California Nonprofit Wage Theft Lawsuit: Preliminary $170K Settlement

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California Nonprofit Wage Theft Lawsuit Preliminary $170K Settlement.jpg

In June 2021, Downtown Streets Team, a California nonprofit came to a $170,000 preliminary settlement agreement to resolve a wage theft lawsuit.

The Case: Jaclyn Epter v. Downtown Streets, Inc.

The Court: Superior Court for the State of California for the County of San Francisco

The Case No.: CGC-19-579955

The Plaintiff: Epter v. Downtown Streets

The plaintiff in the case, Jaclyn Epter, is a former employment specialist at Downtown Streets. Epter filed a class-action lawsuit in December 2019 on behalf of herself and other case managers and employment specialists for nonpayment of wages. The lawsuit alleged wage theft or wage abuse based on overtime violations, failure to provide mandated break and lunch time compensation, late payment of wages after termination or resignation, etc. for the time period between Oct. 11, 2015 and March 31, 2020. The plaintiff alleges that the nonprofit illegally misclassified its employment specialists and case managers, who support the nonprofits various programs, as salary workers exempt from the protections of the California Labor Code.

The Defendant: Epter v. Downtown Streets

The defendant in the case, Downtown Streets, is a nonprofit corporation that employs the homeless and low wage earners and runs the Downtown Streets Team. The “team” provides street cleaning service throughout Palo Alto and surrounding Bay Area cities. The purpose of the nonprofit’s street cleaning team is to help uplift the homeless in the area (as well as low wage workers) and assist them in finding employment and housing.

The Allegations: Epter v. Downtown Streets

Some of the allegations plaintiffs cited in the lawsuit included:

  • Failure to pay wages for all hours worked

  • Failure to pay overtime wages

  • Failure to provide meal periods or premium wages in lieu thereof

  • Failure to provide rest breaks or premium wages in lieu thereof

  • Failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements

  • Failure to timely pay final wages at termination

  • Violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law

More About the Case: Epter v. Downtown Streets

The plaintiff in the case claims that she was instructed to record her hours as no more than 8 in a workday or 40 in a work week regardless of how many she worked. She also alleges that employees were discouraged from taking meal or rest breaks, and that the company did not provide them with accurate, itemized wage statements. According to court documents, the wage theft lawsuit’s preliminary settlement was approved on June 25th, and a final settlement will potentially be determined by the court on Sept. 23rd. The $170,000 settlement is intended to resolve the wage theft lawsuit, and pay 72 employees affected by the pay disparities to provide for uncompensated overtime, (as well as providing compensation for missed meal and rest breaks mandated by employment law). The allegations claimed millions of dollars in losses, so the defendant sees the $170,000 settlement as a good outcome. Downtown Streets denied the allegations, but will examine its records for any employees not property compensated.

If you need to discuss California state law or if you need to file a class action lawsuit, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.