Facts

On October 11, 2019, Ronnie Williams filed a class action suit against Perdue Farms, and others, in San Francisco Superior alleging several wage and hour, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and Unfair Competition violations. The case was later moved to federal court

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff contended that defendants violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act in how it conducted background checks on prospective, former, and current employees. According to plaintiff, defendants routinely acquired consumer, or other types of investigative or credit reports in connection with their hiring process without providing the proper disclosures or obtaining proper authorization as required by law. Moreover, plaintiffs alleged that defendants also violated several wage and hour laws, including: failure to provide meal and rest periods; failure to pay premium wages for those missed periods; failure to pay minimum wage for all hours worked; failure to pay correct overtime or double time wages; failure to include all applicable remuneration in calculating pay; failure to reimburse for necessary business expenses; failure to provide accurate written wage statements; and failure to pay all final wages on separation. Finally, plaintiffs noted that defendants' actions and practices merited further recoveries and relief under the Unfair Competition Law.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants denied all contentions.

Result

The parties settled, agreeing to a maximum settlement amount of $1.775 million. The court certified a different timeframe for determining the class members for each cause of action, so that for example, the failure to pay hourly wages cause of action involved, as a class, all persons employed in an hourly or non-exempt position from May 26, 2019 until February 11, 2022. In contrast, the failure to provide accurate wage statements included those hourly or non-exempt employees from July 18, 2020 until February 11. 2022. Though none of the class members objected to the settlement, four individuals did not join as class members.