Taco Bell Recruiter Claims he was Denied Benefits through Misclassification

A recent California complaint alleges violations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and related state law actions.

The Case: Alders v. YUM! Brands, Inc, Taco Bell Corp., et al

The Court: United States District Court, Central District of California

The Case No.: 8:21-cv-01191-JLS-DFM

The Plaintiff: Alders v. YUM! Brands, Inc, Taco Bell Corp.

The plaintiff in the case is Tim Alders, a 63 year old resident of Orange, California. According to the complaint, the plaintiff was employed by Taco Bell through Yum! Brands from 1995 through 2020 as an executive recruiter. The plaintiff alleges that during the time he worked for the company, he met the test for employee status under the Nationwide Mutual Insurance v. Darden, 503 U.S. 318 (1992) and Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County and Charles Lee, Real Party in Interest, 4 Cal.5th 903 (Cal. 2018). Plaintiff claimed other workers in a similar situation were eligible to participate in various YUM Plans under the terms of the governing plan documents even though they were not labeled as “employees.” Alders filed suit for unpaid benefits he did not receive due to misclassification as an independent contractor.

The Defendant: Alders v. YUM! Brands, Inc, Taco Bell Corp.

The defendants in the case are YUM! Brands and Taco Bell. YUM is incorporated under North Carolina state law (1997). The main offices of YUM are located in Kentucky, and the company conducts business throughout California. The second defendant listed in the case is Taco Bell. Taco Bell is a California corporation operating out of Irvine, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of YUM. Taco Bell also conducts business throughout California. Various individuals were also listed as defendants.

The Case: Alders v. YUM! Brands, Inc, Taco Bell Corp.

Alder, the plaintiff, alleges he was misclassified during the 25 years he worked for the company, and by doing so, the company denied him retirement and other benefits. The lawsuit seeks recognition of his 25 years of employment for purposes of calculating his retirement benefits for the three different YUM Plans sponsored by the company. The complaint alleges that according to the plans’ governing documents, common law employees were eligible to participate in the Yum Plans, and that the plaintiff met the test for employee status in accordance with prior case law. Based on prior case law, the plaintiff alleged the defendant misclassified him as an independent contractor. The plaintiff argues his status as an employee noting that he participated in Yum corporate events, team meetings, the company dictated his work hours, he was issued a corporate email account, assigned an office at the company’s corporate headquarters, and was given access to the company’s computer system to complete his work. The company also prohibited Alders from accepting similar work from other fast food entities. While other similarly situated workers received benefits, Alders only received monthly compensation as an independent contractor.

If you have questions about California employment law or if you need to file an employment law 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.