Café Rio Allegedly Violates PAGA: Failed to Provide Meal and Rest Periods

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San Bernardino's Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP filed a class-action lawsuit against a popular restaurant, Café Rio, Inc. The class action alleges that Café Rio violated PAGA (Private Attorney General Act) and failed to accurately calculate and pay California employees' overtime as required by law. The Café Rio class action lawsuit (Case No. CIVDS2011822) is pending in San Bernardino County Superior Court claiming the company did not provide employees with mandatory meal and rest periods.  

Café Rio Class Action: Case No. CIVDS2011822

According to the plaintiff in Case No. CIVDS2011822, off the clock meal breaks and rest periods were consistently interrupted by work assignments. As a result of being forced to complete work off the clock, the plaintiff and other Café Rio employees were shorted pay. The inaccurate recording of hours worked resulted in employees regularly working without compensation at the legally required minimum wage and overtime wage rates. According to California state law, employees must be paid overtime and meal period premium wages at 1.5x the employee's regular pay rate.

Café Rio Allegedly Violated Numerous Employment Law Regulations:  

  1. Requiring Employees to Work During Unpaid Breaks: This is often referred to as 'off the clock' work because employees work while they are clocked out or not being paid to work. These seemingly inconsequential moments of working during break periods can add up to hours of unpaid work. 

  2. Inaccurate Wage Statements: Requiring employees to work during unpaid breaks means their time spent working is not recorded accurately as required by law. 

  3. Violating Minimum Wage Requirements: By not paying employees for some of the time the work, many companies end up providing their employees with hourly wages that fall below the minimum wage requirements, which violates labor law. 

  4. Violating Overtime Pay Requirements: By basing overtime pay calculations on inaccurate records of hours worked, many employees may be shorted overtime pay. 

If you have questions about how to identify California labor law violations or if you need to file an overtime lawsuit, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in any one of various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.