California Caterers Sue LA Airport for Unpaid Overtime
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Caterers working at Los Angeles International Airport airlines filed suit against Sky Chefs in December 2019. The California workers claim they are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid overtime. Sky Chef workers allege they were shortchanged wages earned from January 1, 2019, throughout the entire year. The plaintiffs seek class-action certification. Sky Chef responded by advising those seeking information that they do not comment on pending litigation.
The employees filing suit claim that Sky Chefs uses a standard practice to calculate overtime for workers at LAX that bases overtime pay rates on a wage below the legally required minimum wage. The practice is described as “systematic, widespread, and flagrant” in the lawsuit. If the allegations are true, the employment law violations were both widespread and flagrant.
Examples of Alleged Employment Law Violations:
One plaintiff included in the lawsuit alleges that Sky Chefs failed to provide him full payment for overtime, underpaying him by $3.74 per hour for all overtime hours worked. The plaintiffs’ legal counsel estimates the number of affected Sky Chefs employees to be between 500 and 900 workers assigned to various facilities adjacent to LAX. Plaintiffs seek damages equal to their underpaid overtime hours plus interest, attorney’s fees, and costs. It is estimated to total at least a few million dollars.
The California Overtime Lawsuit Follows Living Wage and Affordable Health Care Protest:
The Sky Chefs California overtime lawsuit followed the protest staged by Sky Chef workers the month prior at the Los Angeles airport. The protest called for a living wage and affordable health care.
If you need to discuss how 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.
