A recent California wage and hour ruling, Leyva v. Medline Industries. Inc., regarding employment affirms attorneys can bring about a class action lawsuit if individual damages vary as long as there is a reliable means of calculating damages. The workers' attorney claims Medline improperly rounded off wage and hours worked resulting in erroneous overtime pay, kept inaccurate wage statements, and Medline should be subject to waiting time penalties.
The attorney representing Medline claimed the lawsuit should not be certified as a class action "...based on the fact" that class members were not entitled to damages anyways.
The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the employees, because the "presence of individualized damages cannot, by itself, defeat class certification..". Attorneys for fair wages in labor performed by employees agree with the judge in that the employer treated them all equally and thus a class action lawsuit is appropriate.
Attorneys specializing in employment wage and hour cases know computerized record keeping of employees is accurate enough for the court to calculate damages for each worker. With today's technology, attorneys in California know that unpaid wages, unlawful minimum wages, unpaid overtime wages and penalty wages can all be recovered.
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