NICOLE WOODWORTH, Plаintiff and Appellant, v. LOMA LINDA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, Defendant and Appellant.
E072704
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT, DIVISION TWO
Filed 7/24/23
CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION*; (Super.Ct.No. CIVDS1408640)
APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. David S. Cohn, Judge. Affirmed in part; reversed in part with directions. Motion to dismiss appeal denied. Motion to dismiss cross-appeal granted.
Law Office of Joseph Antonelli, Joseph Antonelli, Janelle Carney; Clarkson Law Firm and Glenn A. Danas for Plaintiff and Appellant Nicole Woodworth.
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, Jeffry A. Miller, Allison Arabian Hill, Jon P. Kardassakis and Michael K. Grimaldi for Defendant and Appellant Loma Linda University Medical Center.
* Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rules 8.1105(b) and 8.1110, this opinion is certified for publication with the exception of parts I, III, IV, V, and VII of the Discussion.
Nicole Woodworth was a registered nurse at Loma Linda University Medical Center (the medical center) from December 2011 to June 2014. In June 2014, she filed this putative class action against the medical center, alleging a host of wage and hour claims on behalf of herself and other employees. She later amended her complaint to add a cause of action under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) (
After several years of litigation, only her individual claim for failure to provide rest periods remained. The court had granted four motions for summary adjudication in favor of the medical center, denied Woodworth‘s motion for class certification, and denied her motion to strike putative class members’ declarations. Woodworth appeals from those orders, which disposed of the putative class members’ claims, the PAGA claims, and all of her individual claims (apart from her claim about rest periods). The medical center moves to dismiss most of Woodworth‘s appeal, but we deny the motion.
We affirm the orders in large part but reverse in a number of respects. In particular, we reverse in part the order denying class certification. The court erred with respect to Woodworth‘s proposed wage statement class, which consisted of employees who received allegedly inaccurate wage statements. We remand for the trial court to reconsider certification of that class.
Additionally, the court erred by granting summary adjudication for the medical center on Woodworth‘s claim that she and other nonexempt employees were underpaid as a result of time rounding. The medical center had a policy of rounding employees’ time punches down to the nearest tenth of an hour. See‘s Candy Shops, Inc. v. Superior Court (2012) 210 Cal.App.4th 889 (See‘s Candy) approved of time rounding, so long as the rounding policy is “fair and neutral on its face” and “‘used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.‘” (Id. at p. 907.) Recently, another appellate court rejected the See‘s Candy rounding standard. (Camp v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. (2022) 84 Cal.App.5th 638, 643 (Camp), review granted Feb. 1, 2023, S277518.) We publish our discussion of the rounding motion to express our agreement with Camp.
We also publish another portion of our discussion regarding the alternative workweek schedule (AWS) instituted by the medical center. California law permits employers to institute an AWS that operates as an exception to overtime requirements. (
The medical center has filed a cross-appeal from the order denying its motion to strike all of the PAGA allegations from the operative complaint on the ground that the PAGA claims were unmanageable. Woodworth moves to dismiss the cross-appeal. We grant that motion, but we consider the arguments raised in the cross-appeal to the extent that they provide alternative grounds to affirm the erroneous orders terminating the PAGA claims.
We conclude that the medical center‘s manageability arguments do not provide alternative grounds for affirmance. There is a split in the appellate courts over whether trial courts may strike or dismiss PAGA claims for lack of manageability, and we also publish the relevant portion of our discussion to express our agreement with one side of that split. (Wesson v. Staples the Office Superstore, LLC (2021) 68 Cal.App.5th 746, 756 (Wesson) [holding that courts have inherent authority to strike unmanageable PAGA claims]; Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc. (2022) 76 Cal.App.5th 685, 697 (Estrada), review granted June 22, 2022, S274340 [holding that courts cannot strike PAGA claims on the basis of manageability concerns].) We agree with the court in Estrada and hold that trial courts may not strike or dismiss a PAGA claim for lack of mаnageability. When faced with unwieldy PAGA claims, trial courts may limit the scope of the claims or the
BACKGROUND
I. The Operative Complaint
Woodworth‘s third amended complaint (TAC) alleged numerous theories of liability. First, Woodworth alleged that the medical center failed to pay overtime compensation to hourly nonexempt employees for work in excess of eight hours per day. Employees in the healthcare industry may adopt an AWS consisting of 10- or 12-hour workdays for which they will not receive overtime pay. (
Second, Woodworth alleged that the medical center miscalculated overtime rates and premium pay for missed meal or rest periods by failing to include all remuneration in the employees’ regular rate of pay (the regular rate claim). In particular, the medical center allegedly failed to include nondiscretionary bonuses in the employees’ regular rate of pay. Overtime hours are compensated at either one and one-half times or twice an employee‘s “regular rate of pay.” (
Third, Woodworth alleged that the medical center rounded the number of hours that employees worked to the nearest tenth of an hour. She alleged that as a result of the rounding policy, the medical center systematically underpaid her and the other nonexempt employees (the rounding claim).
Fourth, Woodworth alleged that the medical center failed to provide a third rest period for employees who worked 10 hours or more per shift. The medical center allegedly failed to implement a relief system that would enable employees to take mandated rest periods (the rest period claim).
Fifth, Woodworth alleged that the medical center failed to pay employees all wages due, or failed to pay them in a timely manner, when the employees separated from the medical center. She sought penalties for those alleged “delays in the payment of end-of-employment wages,” which are “commonly referred to as ‘waiting time penalties‘” (the waiting time claim). (Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc. (2022) 13 Cal.5th 93, 106 (Naranjo).)
And sixth, Woodworth alleged that the medical center failed to provide employees with accurate itemized wage statements. The wage statements allegedly were improper in a number of respects, including by failing to show “total hours worked by the employee[s]” (the wage statement claim). (
On the basis of the foregoing allegations, the TAC alleged seven overlapping causes of action, styled as follows: (1) violations of the unfair competition law (UCL)
II. The Motions and Rulings at Issue
Woodworth challenges the court‘s ruling on six motions between November 2018 and May 2019. In the medical center‘s cross-appeal, it challenges the court‘s ruling on one motion during that period. For now, we briefly describe the relevant motions and challenged rulings. In the discussion section, post, we take each motion in turn, providing more background and reviewing the parties’ evidence and arguments in detail.
First, the medical center moved for summary adjudication on the rounding claim. In November 2018, the court granted that motion as to the stand-alone cause of action alleging rounding, as well as to the UCL cause of action, the PAGA cause of action, and the cause of action for recovery of unpaid wages, to the extent that they alleged illegal rounding.
Next, Woodworth moved for class certification. As part of its opposition to the motion, the medical center filed 43 declarations from putative class members.
While the parties were briefing the motion for class certification, the medical center filed three motions for summary adjudication and a motion to strike the PAGA allegations. One motion sought summary adjudication on the regular rate claim, the wage statement claim, and the waiting time claim. Anоther motion sought summary adjudication on the PAGA cause of action on the ground that Woodworth had failed to exhaust administrative remedies. The third motion sought summary adjudication on the medical center‘s AWS defense to the overtime claim. And the medical center moved to strike the PAGA allegations on the ground that the PAGA cause of action was unmanageable.
In May 2019, the court entered an order (1) granting the motion for summary adjudication on the regular rate claim, the wage statement claim, and the waiting time claim and (2) granting the motion for summary adjudication on the AWS defense to the overtime claim. The court‘s ruling disposed of the various causes of action, including the UCL and PAGA causes of action, to the extent that they were predicated on those claims.
The May 2019 order also granted the motion for summary adjudication on the PAGA cause of action, to the extent that the court had “not otherwise summarily adjudicated” the cause of action in favor of the medical center. More specifically, the court ruled that Woodworth had not provided sufficient notice of her rest period claim to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA). Lastly, the May 2019 order
DISCUSSION
I. Motions to Dismiss
Woodworth appeals from (1) the November 2018 order granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication on the rounding claim; (2) the March 2019 order denying her motion to strike the putative class members’ declarations and denying her motion for class certification; and (3) the May 2019 order granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication on the regular rate claim, the wage statement claim, and the waiting time claim; granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication on the AWS defense; and granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication on the PAGA cause of action for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
The medical center cross-appeals from the court‘s May 2019 order denying the motion to strike the PAGA allegations.
Both parties have filed motions to dismiss. The medical center moves to dismiss all but a small portion of Woodworth‘s appeal. Woodworth moves to dismiss the cross-appeal in its entirety. The medical center‘s motion lacks merit, but Woodworth‘s motion is well taken.
The medical center contends that, under the death knell doctrine, we may review only the order denying class certification of the rest period claim and the order denying the motion to strike the putative class declarations. According to the medical center, we have no jurisdiction to review the remainder of the order denying the motion for class certification or any of the other orders that Woodworth challenges. We disagree.
“Under the one final judgment rule, ‘“an appeal may be taken only from the final judgment in an entire action.“‘” (In re Baycol Cases I & II (2011) 51 Cal.4th 751, 756 (Baycol).) The death knell doctrine is a judicially created exception to the one final judgment rule. (Id. at p. 757.) Under the doctrine, we treat an order that terminates class claims but permits individual claims to proceed “as in essence a final judgment” on the class claims. (Ibid.) Such an order effectively rings “the death knell for the class claims” and is “appealable immediately.” (Ibid.)
“The doctrine is animated by two basic considerations: (1) The order terminating class claims is the practical equivalent of a final judgment for absent class members; and (2) without the possibility of a group recovery, the plaintiff will lack incentive to pursue [individual] claims to final judgment, thus allowing the order terminating class claims to evade review entirely.” (Cortez v. Doty Bros. Equipment Co. (2017) 15 Cal.App.5th 1, 8 (Cortez).)
The death knell doctrine also applies when an order terminates representative PAGA claims and permits only individual claims to proceed. (Miranda v. Anderson Enterprises, Inc. (2015) 241 Cal.App.4th 196, 199, 201 (Miranda).) The concerns
But the death knell doctrine does not apply when PAGA claims remain pending after the trial court terminates class claims. (Cortez, supra, 15 Cal.App.5th at p. 8; Nguyen v. Applied Medical Resources Corp. (2016) 4 Cal.App.5th 232, 243; Young v. RemX, Inc. (2016) 2 Cal.App.5th 630, 635; Munoz v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (2015) 238 Cal.App.4th 291, 310.) In those circumstances, the possibility of group recovery under PAGA still exists despite the termination of class claims. (Cortez, at p. 8.) “[T]he PAGA plaintiff remains incentivized by the statutory scheme to proceed to judgment on behalf of himself or herself as well as the individuals he or she represents.” (Ibid.)
In this case, the May 2019 order granting the medical center‘s three motions for summary adjudication constituted an appealable order under the death knell doctrine. That order terminated Woodworth‘s PAGA cause of action, sounding the death knell for the claims of the absent aggrieved employees. (See ZB, N.A. v. Superior Court (2019) 8 Cal.5th 175, 184-185 [PAGA “empowers employees to sue on behalf of themselves and other аggrieved employees to recover civil penalties“].) Woodworth‘s individual rest period claim survived, but the persistence of that “‘de minimis individual‘” claim “‘creates a risk no formal final judgment will ever be entered.‘” (Miranda, supra, 241 Cal.App.4th at p. 202.) And although the court had terminated Woodworth‘s class claims by denying class certification several months earlier, the death knell doctrine did not
The medical center argues that Baycol requires dismissal of most of the appeal. We are not persuaded. Baycol considered an order sustaining a demurrer to class claims and individual claims, which disposed of the plaintiff‘s action entirely. (Baycol, supra, 51 Cal.4th at p. 755.) Our Supreme Court reasoned that the death knell doctrine did not render the order immediately appealable because the plaintiff could (and did) appeal from the judgment of dismissal. (Id. at pp. 760-762.) Thus, there was “no need to apply any special exception to the usual one final judgment rule to ensure appellate review of class claims.” (Id. at p. 754.) The court held that the death knell “doctrine renders appealable only those orders that effectively terminate class claims but permit individual claims to continue.” (Ibid.)
According to the medical center, Baycol limits our review to the denial of class certification on the rest period claim, because “the class part of the claim is foreclosed and, at the same time, the underlying ‘individual claim[] survive[s].‘” Baycol does not impose that limitation on our review. The Baycol court required that an order must allow individual claims to survive in order to trigger the death knell exception. But it did not limit the parts of the appealable order that are reviewable once the exception applies. And the limitation that the medical center seeks to impose makes no sense, given the rationale for the death knell doctrine. Suppose we reviewed only that part of the order denying class certification on the rest period claim, and we affirmed it. On remand, the concerns underlying the death knell doctrine would still exist. Woodworth‘s class claims
The proper course is to review the entirety of the orders underlying the “de facto final judgment for absent plaintiffs.” (Baycol, supra, 51 Cal.4th at p. 759; see Wallace v. GEICO General Ins. Co. (2010) 183 Cal.App.4th 1390, 1395-1396 & fn. 5 [appellate court could review interim order on summary judgment motion, because the ruling “impacted the trial court‘s decision to strike the class allegations“].) As to the absent putative class members, that means we should review the order denying Woodworth‘s motion to strike their declarations and denying her motion for class certification. (Barriga v. 99 Cents Only Stores LLC (2020) 51 Cal.App.5th 299, 320-321 (Barriga) [order denying motion to strike putative class declarations was reviewable on appeal from order denying class certification motion].) As to the absent aggrieved employees, it means we should review the May 2019 order granting the medical center‘s motions for summary adjudication, plus the November 2018 order granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication on the rounding claim. The court granted each of those motions with respect to the PAGA cause of action (as well as Woodworth‘s individual claims). Collectively, the two orders disposed of every theory of liability on which Woodworth based the PAGA cause of action—the regular rate claim, the wage statement claim, the waiting time claim, the overtime claim, the rest period claim, and the rounding
For all of these reasons, we deny the medical center‘s motion for partial dismissal of the appeal.
B. Woodworth‘s Motion to Dismiss the Cross-Appeal
Woodworth moves to dismiss the medical center‘s cross-appeal, arguing that the death knell doctrine renders the orders that she challenges appealable, but it does not give the medical center the right to appeal. We agree.
As discussed, the death knell doctrine permits us to review orders that terminated the claims of absent class members and absent aggrieved employees. But the order from which the medical center cross-appeals—the order denying the motion to strike the PAGA allegations—did not contribute to that de facto final judgment against the absent class members and aggrieved employees. Rather, the order would have kept the PAGA claims alive, if the claims had survived the medical center‘s other motions. The death knell doctrine therefore does not give us jurisdiction over the cross-appeal.
Nevertheless, Woodworth observes that we may consider the medical center‘s arguments in its cross-appeal as “alternative grounds to affirm” the court‘s rulings terminating the PAGA cause of action, so the cross-appeal is “wholly unnecessary.” Again, we agree with her. To the extent that we conclude the trial court erred by terminating the PAGA claims, we consider the arguments advanced by the medical center in its motion to strike the PAGA allegations as alternative grounds to affirm those orders. (See Hicks v. Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. (2001) 89 Cal.App.4th 908, 924, fn. 56 [“it
For these reasons, we dismiss the cross-appeal but consider the arguments raised in the cross-appeal as alternative grounds to affirm the orders from which Woodworth appeals.
II. Motion for Summary Adjudication on the Rounding Claim
Woodworth argues that the trial court erred by granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication on the rounding claim. In particular, she urges us to follow Camp. Camp reversed a judgment for the employer on a rounding claim, holding that “if an employer . . . can capture and has captured the exact amount of time an employee has worked during a shift, the employer must pay the employee for ‘all the time’ worked.” (Camp, supra, 84 Cal.App.5th at p. 660.) We agree with the reasoning in Camp, and we accordingly reverse the order granting summary adjudication for the medical center on the rounding claim.
A. Relevant Background
The medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication argued that its rounding policy was fair and neutral as to all nonexempt employees, and the policy therefore was lawful under See‘s Candy, supra, 210 Cal.App.4th 889. (Id. at p. 903 [“Assuming a rounding-over-time policy is neutral, both facially and as applied, the practice is proper under California law“].) It sought summary adjudication on the stand-alone cause of action alleging rounding and several other causes of action, including the PAGA cause of action, to the extent that they were based on the rounding claim.
In support of the motion, the medical center also offered the declaration of Michael J. Buchanan, an applied economist with experience in evaluating economic and statistical issues in class action cases. Buchanan analyzed the timekeeping and payroll data for all hourly nonexempt employees from June 2010 to August 2015. (Woodworth proposed a class period starting in June 2010.) The data set included records for 10,534 employees. He compared the rounded time from the payroll data to the unrounded clock entries from the timekeeping data. The timekeeping data reflected “the actual time an employee punched in or out.”
Buchanan concluded that 5,418 employees (or approximately 51.4 percent) were paid for more time than they were on the clock, while 5,002 employees (or approximately 47.4 percent) were paid for less time than they were on the clock. Another 114 employees (or about 1.1 percent) were unaffected by rounding. Buchanan opined that the
In opposition to the motion for summary adjudication, Woodworth argued that the rounding policy was not neutral because it systematically undercompensated employees assigned to work 12-hour shifts (the 12-hour employees). She asserted that she was going to seek certification of a rounding class consisting of 12-hour employees only.
Woodworth offered the declaration of Brian Kriegler, a statistician who was the managing director of an economic and statistical consulting firm. Kriegler analyzed the timekeeping and payroll data from the same period as Buchanan, but Kriegler did not analyze the data for all nonexempt employees. Instead, he analyzed the data only for the 12-hour employees. His data set included 4,620 employees.
Kriegler‘s analysis differed from Buchanan‘s analysis in another way. Kriegler conducted a “‘weighted hours‘” analysis that attempted to quantify how rounding impacted the 12-hour employees’ earnings. He noted that 12-hour employees worked straight time hours but often also worked overtime hours (one and one-half times their regular rate of pay) and double time hours (two times their regular rate of pay). He opined that determining “whether rounding is fair in terms of earnings requires taking into account the respective amounts of straight time, overtime, and double time—and not simply applying equal weight to all hours worked.”1 Kriegler criticized Buchanan‘s
According to Kriegler‘s weighted hours analysis, 3,121 of the 12-hour employees (or approximately 67.6 percent) were underpaid becausе of rounding, while 1,477 of them (or about 32 percent) were overpaid. Another 22 of the 12-hour employees (or about 0.5 percent) were neither underpaid nor overpaid. Kriegler also analyzed all of Woodworth‘s own data. He concluded that the medical center underpaid her in 37 out of 60 pay periods, resulting in 6.3 weighted hours of unpaid work worth $202.72.
In the medical center‘s reply brief, it argued that Woodworth‘s evidence did not dispute that the rounding policy was neutral as applied to all employees. Instead, her evidence focused on 12-hour employees, a theory that she did not plead in the TAC. The TAC defined the putative class for the rounding claim as all hourly nonexempt employees. Likewise, the PAGA cause of action defined “‘aggrieved employees‘” as all hourly nonexempt employees of the medical center. The medical center asserted that opposition papers could not “create issues outside the pleadings.” It further argued that it was irrelevant whether Woodworth was underpaid as a result of rounding, because the proper analysis examined the effect of rounding on the employees as a whole.
. . . [C]onsider an 8-hour shift employee who works 12.5 hours in a day and is paid $25 per hour. This employee‘s Weighted Hours are 1.0 x 8 + 1.5 x 4 + 2.0 x 0.5 = 15 Weighted Hours. This employee‘s earnings are 15 x $25/hour = $375.”
B. Standard of Review
A defendant may move for summary adjudication on a cause of action if the defendant contends that the cause of action has no merit. (
Once the moving defendant has carried its initial burden, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to show a triable issue of material fact with respect to the cause of action. (
We review summary adjudication orders de novo and apply the same legal standard as the trial court. (Travelers Property Casualty Co. of America v. Superior Court (2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 561, 574.) We independently examine the record to determine whether there are triable issues of material fact and whether the moving party is entitled to summary adjudication as a matter of law. (Id. at p. 574.)
C. Analysis
A federal regulation “allows employers to compute employee worktime by rounding ‘to the nearest 5 minutes, or to the nearest one-tenth or quarter of an hour,’ provided that the rounding system adopted by the employer ‘is used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.‘” (AHMC Healthcare, Inc. v. Superior Court (2018) 24 Cal.App.5th 1014, 1020-1021 (AHMC Healthcare), quoting
In 2012, See‘s Candy adopted the federal regulatory standard for rounding claims under California law. (See‘s Candy, supra, 210 Cal.App.4th at p. 907.) The court reasoned that no California statute or case law prohibited the practice of rounding, and in the absence of state authorities, California courts generally look to federal labor law for guidance. (Id. at pp. 901, 903.) The court also found persuasive that the agency responsible for enforcing California‘s labor laws, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), had adopted the federal regulation in the agency‘s 2002 revised enforcement manual. (Id. at p. 902.) The See‘s Candy court thus held that a rounding policy is lawful if it is fаcially neutral and applied “‘in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.” (Id. at p. 907.)
Since 2012, other courts of appeal have followed See‘s Candy by applying the federal regulatory standard to rounding claims under California law. (David v. Queen of Valley Medical Center (2020) 51 Cal.App.5th 653, 664-665; AHMC Healthcare, supra, 24 Cal.App.5th at pp. 1028-1029.) In one case, the court observed that the federal standard does not require that a rounding policy “work out neutrally for every employee.” (AHMC Healthcare, at p. 1022; accord Corbin v. Time Warner Entm‘t-Advance/Newhouse P‘ship (9th Cir. 2016) 821 F.3d 1069, 1077 [rejecting the argument
Camp recently broke with the See‘s Candy line of cases. In Camp, the stipulated evidence showed that under the employer‘s rounding policy, 56.6 percent of employees were paid for the same or a greater amount of time than their actual work time, while 43.4 percent of employees were underpaid. (Camp, supra, 84 Cal.App.5th at p. 646.) The plaintiff was one of the employees whom the employer had underpaid—he had lost 7.83 hours because of rounding. (Ibid.)
The employer argued that its rounding policy was lawful under See‘s Candy and that it therefore was entitled to summary judgment on the plaintiff‘s claim for unpaid wages, but the Camp court rejected that argument. (Camp, supra, 84 Cal.App.5th at pp. 643-644.) The court held that if an employer “can capture and has captured the exact amount of time an employee has worked during a shift, the employer must pay the employee for ‘all the time’ worked.” (Id. at p. 660.)
The Camp court relied heavily on two California Supreme Court decisions that postdate See‘s Candy. The first decision, Troester v. Starbucks Corp. (2018) 5 Cal.5th 829 (Troester), concerned the de minimis doctrine found in federal labor law, which “excuse[s] the payment of wages for small amounts of otherwise compensable time upon a showing that the bits of time are administratively difficult to record.” (Id. at p. 835.) Troester declined to adopt the federal de minimis doctrine. (Id. at pp. 835, 837-841.)
Camp identified four reasons for rejecting the employer‘s showing that its rounding policy was lawful. (Camp, supra, 84 Cal.App.5th at pp. 656-658.) First, Troester clarified that the Labor Code and the relevant wage order both contemplate that employers will pay employees for “‘all work performed.‘”3 (Camp, at p. 657.) The evidence in Camp showed that the employer had not paid the plaintiff for all work performed. (Ibid.)
Second, as our high court explained in Troester, the Labor Code and the wage order provisions form a regulatory scheme that “‘is . . . concerned with “small things.“‘” (Camp, supra, 84 Cal.App.5th at p. 657.) And when Troester rejected the de minimis doctrine, it “indicated that even small amounts of worktime—indeed amounts measured in minutes—are compensable where the worktime is regularly occurring.” (Camp, at
Third, there was no convincing evidence that the IWC or the Legislature intended to adopt the federal rounding regulation for determining whether time is compensable under state law. (Camp, supra, 84 Cal.App.5th at p. 657Ibid.) Similarly, our high court had cautioned against relying on federal labor law to construe state labor law if the language or intent of the laws substantially differs. (Ibid.) In the case of rounding, there was not merely a difference in language but “a complete absence of language.” (Ibid.) The federal regulation has no analog in the Labor Code or in the relevant wage order. (Id. at p. 657Id. at p. 658Troester declined to adopt the federal de minimis doctrine under substantially similar circumstances. (Troester, supra, 5 Cal.5th at p. 841; Camp, at p. 658.)
Fourth and finally, Donohue “appear[ed] to have called into question the efficiencies historically attributed to time rounding given that advances in technology
We find Camp‘s reasons for rejecting the See‘s Candy rounding standard persuasive. We therefore conclude that the medical center was not entitled to summary adjudication on Woodworth‘s individual rounding claim or the PAGA rounding claim. The medical center‘s evidence showed that over 5,000 employees were not paid for all time worked under the rounding policy. Woodworth‘s evidence showed that she was not paid for 6.3 weighted hours under the policy. In addition, the evidence showed that the medical center‘s computer-based timekeeping system captured the employees’ time to the minute and took the extra step of rounding the time punches. Because the medical center could and did capture the exact number of minutes that employees worked, it “must pay the employee[s] for ‘all the time’ worked.” (Camp, supra, 84 Cal.App.5th at p. 660.)
Camp was decided after we issued our tentative opinion in this matter, so we gave the parties an opportunity to file supplemental briefs regarding the case. In its supplemental brief, the medical center contends that Woodworth forfeited the argument
We conclude that there are good reasons to exercise that discretion here. Camp had not been decided when the parties briefed this motion in the trial court. Even the cases on which Camp relied, Troester and Donohue, were decided after the parties had fully briefed the motion in mid-July 2018. And when the trial court ruled on the motion in November 2018, See‘s Candy was binding appellate authority. Troester, Donohue, and Camp represent an intervening change in the case law that validates the new argument urged on appeal. (In re Marriage of Moschetta (1994) 25 Cal.App.4th 1218, 1227, fn. 12.)
Moreover, the medical center has not identified any disputed factual issue precluding reliance on Camp. (See Krechuniak v. Noorzoy (2017) 11 Cal.App.5th 713, 725 [if a “‘new theory contemplates a factual situation . . . open to controversy‘” and “‘not put in issue or presented‘” in the trial court, then “‘the opposing party should not be required to defend against it on appeal‘“].) It argues that section 2928 “require[s] a new factual analysis” and that Camp is distinguishable because it does not address section 2928. On this record, we disagree that section 2928 renders Camp inapplicable.
The medical center further argues that we should decline to follow Camp because the court did not identify any language in the Labor Code or wage orders prohibiting a neutral rounding policy. On the contrary, Camp identified specific provisions of the Labor Code and the relevant wage order that required employees to “‘be paid for all work performed.‘” (Camp, supra, 84 Cal.App.5th at p. 657, citing
In sum, we agree with Camp that if an employer “can capture and has captured the exact amount of time an employee has worked during a shift, the employer must pay the employee for ‘all the time’ worked.” (Camp, supra, 84 Cal.App.5th at p. 660.) The evidence in this case showed that under the rounding policy, (1) the medical center captured the exact number of minutes employees worked, and (2) Woodworth and many other employees were not paid for all time worked. The medical center therefore was not entitled to summary adjudication on Woodworth‘s individual rounding claim or the PAGA rounding claim.
Woodworth contends that the court erred by denying her motion to strike the putative class members’ declarations. She argues that the court abused its discretion because she presented evidence that the medical center‘s counsel behaved in a deceptive and coercive manner with rеspect to the declarants. We conclude that Woodworth has not shown an abuse of discretion.
A. Relevant Background
Woodworth moved to certify five classes of current and former medical center employees. The medical center offered 43 putative class member declarations in support of its opposition. All 43 declarants were current employees of the medical center.
The declarations all stated that the declarant understood a former employee had “filed a proposed class action lawsuit which alleges that she and other hourly employees were denied rest breaks, not paid all wages owed due to an invalid [AWS] and failing to include certain bonuses in calculating overtime, and provided with inaccurate paystubs.”
The final numbered paragraph of 42 of the declarations stated: “The statements in this declaration are voluntary and I understand that I do not have any obligation to sign this declaration. I understand that whether I choose to do so or not will not affect my employment status in any way. I have not been pressured or promised anything in connection with this declaration, nor have I been coerced to provide this declaration. I have had the opportunity to review the contents of this declaration and make any changes I believe are necessary to ensure that it is accurate. I understand that this declaration may be used in the proposed class action case entitled Woodworth v. Loma Linda University
Woodworth moved to strike all of the putative class members’ declarations, arguing that the medical center misled the declarants about the nature of the lawsuit and obtained statements against the declarants’ interests in a coercive setting. She also argued that the defense counsel had violated the California Rule of Professional Conduct governing communications between an organization‘s lawyer and the organization‘s constituents.
A few days after Woodworth moved to strike the declarations, she also filed an ex parte application seeking to disqualify defense counsel or, in the alternative, to limit counsel‘s communications with putative class members. Like the motion to strike, the ex parte application argued that defense counsel‘s communications with the putative class members were misleading and coercive, and the ex parte application also requested that the court strike the declarations. The court ordered the ex parte application to proceed as a noticed motion, giving the parties time to file opposition and reply briefs.
Woodworth based her motion to strike and ex parte application largely on the deposition testimony of 10 declarants. She randomly selected the 10 deponents from the group of 43 declarants. In the medical center‘s opposition briefs, it also relied on portions of the deposition testimony. We summarize relevant deposition testimony in the following paragraphs.
Maricela Baca: Baca‘s director told her that the director had to choose two people from the department for an interview with the medical center‘s lawyers regarding breaks. The director said that someone was going to cover for Baca so that the lawyers could interview her. The medical center‘s lawyers told her about this case, but not “down to detail.” They “mainly” told her that a former employee (a nurse) was suing the medical center “over breaks and the three 12s.” Baca did not know that Woodworth was alleging the medical center should have included Christmas bonuses when calculating the overtime rate. She discussed her pay stub with the medical center‘s lawyers, and she told them that she understood it. No one explained to her that Woodworth was claiming an employee should be able to look at his or her pay stub and see “‘the total number of hours‘” worked.
Baca did not know that Woodworth had filed this lawsuit on behalf of the state, and she did not know that Woodworth was seeking penalties for the state on behalf of the medical center employees. No one told her that she would be considered an aggrieved employee under PAGA, and no one told her that she might be a class member in this
Baca did not remember if anyone told her that her declaration would be filed in court. The medical center‘s lawyers did not say whether they were going to do anything with the declaration. They did not tell her that her declaration might hurt Woodworth‘s chances of prevailing on the motion for class certification. No one told her to look at her declaration before she signed it. But the statements about the “day-to-day work environment” in her declaration were true. The statements in her declaration were also voluntary, no one forced her to sign the declaration, and no one promised her anything for signing it. She did not get a copy of her declaration.
Marissa Benter: Benter‘s boss told her that she needed to meet with the medical center‘s lawyer regarding a declaration. Benter felt that she could refuse to go to the meeting, and it was not a “scary” meeting. The medical center‘s lawyer told her that Woodworth‘s case was a proposed class action. The lawyer told her that she could be a potential member of the class because Woodworth was seeking to represent “the whole hospital.” The lawyer explained that Woodworth was attempting to invalidate the AWS.
Benter did not know whether her declaration had been filed in court, but the lawyer told her that the declaration was “[f]or the lawsuit.” Benter reviewed her declaration and made changes before signing it. All of the statements in the final numbered paragraph of her declaration were true.
Elvia Bermudez: A nurse manager asked Bermudez if she could go to a meeting about a case against the medical center. The manager said that a person was suing the
Bermudez did not remember the lawyers using the term “class action,” and they did not tell her that if the lawsuit were successful, she would receive money. They did not tell her that Woodworth was suing on behalf of all employees, and they did not tell her that Woodworth was suing as a private attorney general. She also did not remember them saying that Woodworth was suing on behalf of the state. She did not understand what it meant “to be potentially a member of a class action” or “to be certified as a class action.” The lawyers did not tell her that she could talk to the lawyer representing the employees, and they did not tell her that she could contact Joseph Antonelli, who represented Woodworth.
Bermudez did not know what the following sentence from her declaration meant: “‘I know that if I ever become a participant in the lawsuit, my interests will be opposed to [the medical center‘s] interests.‘” But she signed the declaration because she “was agreeing” with what she had said, and no one forced her to sign it. She reviewed it line by line before signing it. Woodworth‘s counsel asked whether Bermudez would have signed the declaration if she knew that the medical center would use it to defeat the class action and that Bermudez would “‘not get money.‘” Bermudez replied: “Well, I cannot do just because the money. I just can say the truth about the money.”
Steven Clark: Clark did not feel that the meeting with the medical center‘s lawyers was a coercive environment, and he did not feel intimidated. The lawyers introduced themselves and told him that they represented the medical center. They told him that a former employee was suing the medical center regarding rest periods, pay, and “something else,” but he did not remember their exact words. Before he signed his declaration, he did not know that Woodworth‘s pay stub claim involved the failure to put the words “‘Total Hours Worked‘” on the pay stubs.
Clark did not remember anyone using the term “private attorney general” before he signed his declaration. He had never heard of the “Private Attorney General Act of California.” He did not remember the medical center‘s lawyers explaining that Woodworth was representing the employees on behalf of the state. Nobody explained that Woodworth was seeking more than $60 million in penalties for failing to put “‘Total Hours Worked‘” on the pay stubs. Clark did not remember the lawyers telling him that he was a potential class member, but he read that in the declaration. Clark also did not remember the lawyers saying that he had a right to speak to the lawyers representing Woodworth or the employees.
When Clark signed the declaration, he believed that the declaration “could be used to support the case.” The lawyers did not specify how they would use the declaration.
Devon Dean: One of Dean‘s supervisors asked whether she would be willing to talk with “some people for the [medical center] about meal breaks.” The supervisor did not say that the meeting involved a lawsuit. The lawyers that interviewed her did not explain “anything really about the case.”
The medical center‘s lawyers did not tell Dean that Woodworth was suing on behalf of the state and all employees as a private attorney general. At one point, she testified that she did not remember if the lawyers told her that the case involved a class action claim or that she might be a member of a class action. But at another point, she testified that they said this could be a class action lawsuit and that she could be included as a class member. Before Dean signed her declaration, the lawyers did not tell her that she could speak to Woodworth‘s attorneys. They did not mention Antonelli by name. She did not remember the lawyers telling her that she could talk to any lawyer of her choosing about this case.
The medical center‘s lawyers did not explain how her declaration could affect her potential recovery from this lawsuit. The lawyers said that her declaration could be used
Rebecca Manzo: Manzo‘s manager asked her to go to a meeting, and Manzo agreed. Manzo did “not really” know what the meeting was about before she got there. She met with two women whom she believed were lawyers, and she knew that they represented the medical center. They told her that a former employee was suing the hospital, and they wanted to ask her some questions. Manzo could not recall whether the medical center‘s lawyers told her about Woodworth‘s claims.
The medical center‘s lawyers told Manzo that Woodworth had filed a class action, and Manzo knew that she could be a member of a class action, but they did not tell her what a class action was. They did not tell her that Woodworth was seeking to represent other hourly employees, and she did not understand what a class action was when she signed her declaration.
The lawyers told her that the judge in this case might see her declaration, but they did not tell her that the medical center would use the declaration to oppose Woodworth‘s request for class certification. Manzo testified that each of the statements in the final numbered paragraph of her declaration were true at the time she signed it. She reviewed her declaration before signing it. She explained: “So I just know that when I signed this, I was willing and voluntarily [sic] to just give the truth of whatever I know to the best of
Craig Midget: Midget‘s supervisor asked Midget if he “would . . . mind going to talk to the lawyers.” He felt that he could refuse to go to the meeting. He could not remember what the supervisor said about the subject of the interview. When Midget met with the lawyers, he understood that they represented the medical center. The lawyers told him that Woodworth was trying “to invalidate the [AWS], the voting part of it.” He might have been told that Woodworth was seeking overtime wages for her AWS claim, but he could not remember. He could not remember if he had been told about her rest period allegations, but he had been told about her allegations regarding pay stubs.
Midget asked the medical center‘s lawyers about “the exact nature of this lawsuit,” and they explained that the plaintiff had alleged a class action on behalf of herself and other hourly employees. They did not say that Midget could be a member of the class if Woodworth were successful, but he understood that he might be entitled to some money if Woodworth were successful.
The medical center‘s lawyers stressed that his declaration “would go to the other side,” and he assumed that meant the judge would see it also. He reviewed his declaration, and he did not think that he made any changes to it. Midget did not recall the lawyers giving him the contact information for the plaintiff‘s lawyers. He did not receive a document from the medical center‘s lawyers asking for a conflict waiver.
Brittany Ormerod: Ormerod‘s manager asked her “to meet with our lawyers and talk about the rest breaks and other things that might come up due to a lawsuit that was
The medical center‘s lawyers did “[n]ot really” tell Ormerod anything about this lawsuit. They told her about the rest period allegations, but she did not think they mentioned a claim for overtime or allegations about pay stubs, and she could not remember any allegations about the Christmas bonus. But they asked her questions about all of those things. The lawyers might have told her that Woodworth had brought a class action, but she did not recall. She understood that she could be a class member if Woodworth were successful, although she did not recall what the lawyers said about that possibility.
The medical center‘s lawyers told Ormerod that her declaration could be used in the lawsuit, but she did not recall if they told her for “which side” it could be used. She did not know whether they had filed her declaration. She did not receive or sign any documents referring to a waiver of any conflict. She reviewed her declaration before she signed it, and everything in it was truthful.
Dominic Ortiz: Ortiz‘s managers asked him if he would be willing to meet with the medical center‘s lawyers. When he met with the lawyers, they told him that they represented the medical center. They wanted to know about his rest breaks, and they told him that “there was someone filing a lawsuit.” He believed they told him that this case was a class action, but no one explained that Woodworth had brought the action on behalf
Ortiz did not remember the medical center‘s lawyers mentioning that there was a plaintiff‘s lawyer in this case or providing the name of that person. They did not tell him that he could talk to Woodworth‘s lawyers. They told him that his declaration would probably be used in this lawsuit, but they did not explain how. He did not know how his declaration could affect whether the matter was certified as a class action. Ortiz understood that if he had any questions, the medical center‘s lawyers would answer them, but he did not have any questions. He reviewed his declaration and made one change to it before he signed it.
Elizabeth Picazo: Picazo‘s supervisor asked if she could go to a meeting to talk about how everything works in Picazo‘s unit, and Picazo agreed. At the meeting, the medical center‘s lawyers told her that they represented the hospital. They told her that there was a pending lawsuit, they wanted to ask her questions, and they “wanted [her] honest opinion.” She did not remember if they told her what the lawsuit was about, and she did not remember their words “exactly.” They did not say anything about the Christmas bonus in the meeting. No one explained Woodworth‘s claim that the pay stubs should include “‘Total Hours Worked‘” on them. Picazo did not know whether Woodworth wanted “to get rid of” the AWS. No one explained that Woodworth was
Picazo did not recall if the medical center‘s lawyers told her that Woodworth was suing on behalf of other people. She did not know what a class action was, and they did not tell her that she was a potential class member. She did not know that she had the chance of recovering some money if this lawsuit were successful. It was possible the medical center‘s lawyers told her that Woodworth was suing on behalf of the state as a private attorney general. But Picazo had never heard of the “Private Attorney General Act.” No one explained to her that this lawsuit was seeking more than $60 million in penalties, and no one told her that she could potentially recover money if Woodworth won on her private attorney general claim.
The medical center‘s lawyers did not tell Picazo that her “‘declaration could affect whether this matter is certified as a class action and [her] potential recovery from such a lawsuit, if any.‘” She did not understand what those words meant when she read and signed her declaration, but she signed it because she was “honest on the questions” the lawyers asked her in the meeting. They told her that the declaration was in support of the medical center and that it was possible her declaration would be filed in court. The lawyers did not tell her how she could contact the lawyer for the plaintiff, and they did not tell her Antonelli‘s name. After showing Picazo her declaration and asking whether it was accurate, the lawyers said that she was not obligated to sign it. There was nothing inaccurate in the declaration about her “actual work” at the medical center. Picazo told
2. Defense Counsel‘s Declaration in Opposition to the Motion to Strike
In opposition to the motion to strike the putative class members’ declarations, the medical center also relied on the declaration of Rachel Lee, a partner at the firm representing the medical center. Lee and an associate attorney at her firm conducted the interviews of the putative class members. The interviews took place at the medical center in a private room. No medical center employees were present at the interviews, other than the employees being interviewed.
Lee‘s declaration described “standard disclosures” that defense counsel made during each interview. The attorneys introduced themselves and informed the employees that counsel represented only the medical center and did not represent the employees. Next, defense counsel asked whether an attorney represented the employees and whether an attorney had contacted them regarding this case. Defense counsel briefly described “the proposed class action lawsuit and the claims at issue.” Lee and the associate attorney explained that they wanted to talk to the employees because “this was being brought as a class action” and counsel “wanted to find out what the employee[s] had experienced in [their] department.”
Defense counsel also explained that the interviews were voluntary and that the employees did not have to participate in the interviews. Counsel stated that the medical center could not retaliate against the employees for participating or failing to participate in the interviews or for any information provided during interviews. Counsel then asked
For those employees who chose to participate in the interviews, defense counsel asked that they be as truthful, honest, and accurate as possible, and counsel told them that they could decline to respond to any question. At no time did counsel suggest or recommend to the employees that they should answer the questions in a certain way. At the end of the interviews, counsel asked whether the employees would be willing to provide a declaration summarizing the information that they had conveyed. Counsel advised them that the declaration would be under oath and subject to the perjury laws, that the declaration was voluntary, and that they did not have to provide one. Counsel did not promise the employees anything in exchange for their declarations, and counsel did not obtain declarations from any employee who said that they did not want to provide one.
If an employee was willing to provide a declaration, defense counsel prepared and printed it. Counsel gave the employees a chance to review their declarations and make changes to ensure that they were accurate, and some employees made changes. Counsel asked the employees to let counsel know if they had questions about their declarations. Defense counsel advised the employees that the declarations “would be used in the case of Woodworth v. Loma Linda University Medical Center and filed with the court to defend [the medical center] against the Plaintiff‘s claims.” Counsel explained to the
3. Defense Counsel‘s PowerPoint Presentation
The 43 putative class member interviews took place between January 2 and January 14, 2019. The depositions of the 10 putative class members took place between February 7 and February 11, 2019. Before the depositions, on February 6, 2019, defense counsel met with the 10 deponents and reviewed a 23-slide PowerPoint presentation with them. At that meeting, defense counsel confirmed that each employee “already knew and continued to understand” that counsel represented the medical center and not the individual employees.
The PowerPoint presentation included slides briefly describing this lawsuit, identifying the medical center‘s counsel, and identifying Woodworth‘s counsel. One slide explained the “[p]urpose of a deposition” and stated: “Your obligation is to tell the truth. [\u00b6] You are not required to guess about anything. [\u00b6] If you don‘t know or don‘t remember, saying you don‘t know is perfectly appropriate.” Another slide explained the
4. The Court‘s Ruling
At the hearing on the motion to strike the putative class members’ declarations and the motion to disqualify defense counsel, the court indicated that it had reviewed all of the materials identified in its written tentative decision. The tentative decision listed all of the parties’ filings, including the hundreds of pages of deposition excerpts, the putative class members’ declarations, and defense counsel‘s declaration. At the end of the hearing, the court adopted its tentative decision denying both motions.
As to the motion to disqualify defense counsel, the court‘s written ruling summarized the evidence on which the parties relied. The court observed that some of the deposition testimony supported Woodworth‘s argument that the deponents did not understand or retain all of the information that defense counsel conveyed. But the court also observed that the disclosures in the putative class members’ declarations and Lee‘s declaration regarding the interviews were “more reliable” than the “inconsistent” and “less clear” deposition testimony of the putative class members. The court also concluded that Woodworth based her motion largely on federal district court cases “involving facts considerably more serious tha[n] those at issue here.” The court ruled that the facts and authorities did not support disqualification.
B. Analysis
In employment litigation, employers may investigate a plaintiff-employee‘s allegations and obtain statements from other employees. (Barriga, supra, 51 Cal.App.5th at p. 327; see Weil & Brown, Cal. Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial (The Rutter Group 2022) \u00b6 14:92.1 [before class certification, “it is not ethically improper for defendant to contact members of the putative class, conduct informal discovery or
However, “[c]ourts must be cognizant of the danger of coercion and exercise a healthy skepticism when assessing the evidentiary weight to be given to employee statements.” (Barriga, at p. 327.) Thus, when an employer offers declarations of employees in opposition to a motion for class certification, the trial court has “the duty to carefully scrutinize” those declarations “for coercion or abuse.” (Id. at p. 323.)
Some federal district courts have “concluded an ongoing employer-employee relationship between the class opponent and putative class members is inherently conducive to coercive influence.” (Barriga, supra, 51 Cal.App.5th at p. 326.) But “the mere existence of a potentially or inherently coercive relationship is insufficient to support an order” striking employee declarations or “severely discounting the weight to be given those declarations.” (Id. at p. 327.) On the other hand, “a compelling showing that the employees were misled or that the declarations were not freely and voluntarily given will suffice.” (Ibid.)
“‘In considering whether pre-certification communications between employers and employees are sufficiently deceptive or coercive to warrant relief, courts have considered several factors, including whether the employer adequately informed the employees about: (1) the details underlying the lawsuit, (2) the nature and purpose of the communications, and (3) the fact that any defense attorneys conducting the communications represent the employer and not the employee.‘” (Barriga, supra, 51 Cal.App.5th at p. 330.)
Here, the court did not abuse its discretion by denying the motion to strike the putative class members’ declarations. The record contains substantial evidence supporting the trial court‘s finding that there was a lack of coercion. Eight of the 10 employees testified that their supervisors or managers asked if they would attend the interview with defense counsel, not that they were ordered to attend. Several of those employees also said that they felt comfortable refusing the request or were told that they could refuse the request, and one testified that he did not feel that the environment was coercive. Two of the employees, Baca and Benter, testified that their supervisors told
The record also contains substantial evidence supporting the finding that defense counsel did not affirmatively mislead the declarants. The record shows that defense counsel informed the employees that counsel represented the medical center, not the employees. Lee‘s declaration provided evidence of that, and several employees testified that they were told defense counsel represented the medical center or that they understood that. The declarations all stated that the declarants understood defense counsel represented the medical center and not the employees. And there was no evidence that the employees failed to understand whom defense counsel represented.
Further, there is substantial evidence that defense counsel “‘adequately informed the employees about . . . the details underlying the lawsuit.‘” (Barriga, supra, 51 Cal.App.5th at p. 330.) According to Lee, defense counsel briefly described this lawsuit
Lastly, there is substantial evidence that defense counsel informed the employees about “‘the nature and purpose‘” of the interviews. (Barriga, supra, 51 Cal.App.5th at p. 330.) According to Lee, defense counsel told the employees that the declarations would be filed in court to defend the medical center against Woodwоrth‘s claims. Counsel also explained that the medical center was going to use the declarations to try to prevent the case from becoming a class action, “or words to that effect.” And counsel advised the employees that their statements could affect (1) whether the court certified the case as a class action and (2) the employees’ potential recovery from the action. Again, employee testimony corroborated much of Lee‘s declaration on those points. Benter said that defense counsel told her that the declaration was for this action, and Benter confirmed the truth of the statements in the final numbered paragraph of her declaration. That is, she understood that she could be a member of the class if Woodworth were successful and that her declaration could affect whether the court certified this case as a class action. Clark and Manzo similarly confirmed that, at the time they signed their declarations, the statements in the final numbered paragraph were true. Dean testified that counsel said that her declaration might be used in court and against her as a potential class member. According to Ormerod, defense counsel told her that her declaration could be used in this case. Similarly, Ortiz said that defense counsel told him that his declaration would probably be used in this case.
In sum, the record contains substantial evidence that the medical center did not coerce the employees or affirmatively mislead them into providing declarations. This is not a case in which there was a compelling showing of coercion or abuse. On this record, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by declining to strike the employees’ declarations.
Woodworth also argues that defense counsel failed to obtain a signed waiver of or consent to any conflict of interest. The single legal authority that Woodworth cites on this point, Richardson v. Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (N.D. Cal. Mar. 12, 2018, No. C 16-06772 WHA) 2018 U.S.Dist. Lexis 40377, does not show an abuse of discretion. In Richardson, the employer‘s defense counsel also represented the employee declarants at their depositions “without obtaining informed written consent” as to the conflict of interest. (Id. at p. *23.) The failure to obtain the employees’ consent regarding the conflict was only one factor, among others, that justified striking the employees’ declarations. (Id. at pp. *19-21.) Woodworth does not contend that defense counsel represented the employees at their depositions. And Richardson did not state a blanket rule that a waiver of any conflict of interest was required in every case.
Woodworth further argues that defense counsel omitted important information. For example, she asserts that counsel did not (1) provide a copy of the TAC, (2) provide contact information for Woodworth‘s counsel, (3) give full detail about each of
As to other points that are undisputed\u2014for instance, defense counsel did not provide a copy of the TAC or contact information for Woodworth‘s counsel\u2014Woodworth fails to show an abuse of discretion. She cites a handful of federal district court decisions in which the trial courts found defense counsel‘s communications with putative class members coercive or misleading on the basis of various omissions, plus other evidence. The cases are distinguishable on their facts and do not compel the conclusion that the trial court here abused its discretion. (E.g., Camp v. Alexander (N.D. Cal. 2014) 300 F.R.D. 617, 623-624 [letter sent to employees to convince them to sign opt-out declaration predicted that the class action, if successful, would cause the employer to shut down, “with the obvious consequence that employees would lose their jobs“]; Acosta v. Southwest Fuel Mgmt. (C.D.Cal. Feb. 20, 2018, No. CV 16-4547 FMO (AGRx)) 2018 U.S.Dist. Lexis 203389, at pp. *4-5 [employees instructed to attend meeting with defense counsel where counsеl did not say the meeting was voluntary; one
Woodworth also contends that the court abused its discretion because defense counsel violated the California Rules of Professional Conduct. (Undesignated rule references are to the Rules of Professional Conduct.) More specifically, she asserts that counsel violated rules 1.13(f) and 4.3(a) by coaching the employees before their depositions, which created the false impression that defense counsel represented the employees and amounted to giving legal advice.
Some federal district courts have concluded that violations of former rule 3-600, the predecessor to rule 1.13, weigh in favor of finding improper communications. (Quezada, supra, 2013 U.S.Dist. Lexis 47639, at pp. *11-12; see Sprengel v. Zbylut (2019) 40 Cal.App.5th 1028, 1042 & fn. 3 [former rule 3-600 preceded rule 1.13].) But Woodworth has not shown a violation of rule 1.13 or 4.3 here. Rule 1.13(f) states: “In dealing with an organization‘s constituents, a lawyer representing the organization shall explain the identity of the lawyer‘s client whenever the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that the organization‘s interests are adverse to those of the constituent(s)
Finally, in her reply brief, Woodworth argues that this court‘s decision in Barriga requires us to reverse the order denying the motion to strike. (We decided Barriga after Woodworth had filed her opening brief.) While some of Barriga‘s statements of the law are relevant here, it does not compel a reversal. The facts of the case render it materially distinguishable. In Barriga, we reversed for the trial court to reconsider the motion to strike employee declarations. (Barriga, supra, 51 Cal.App.5th at p. 338.) We did that for two reasons. First, the court concluded that it lacked statutory authority to strike the employee declarations. (Id. at p. 335.) And although the court also addressed the merits of the plaintiff‘s argument, it was “not entirely clear the court scrutinized the declarations
Second, the trial court “misunderstood the scope of its authority,” because it ruled that the federal case law on which the plaintiff relied did not warrant striking the declarations of employees who were not putative class members (which amounted to 121 of the 174 declarations at issue). (Barriga, supra, 51 Cal.App.5th at p. 335.) We held that the court had a duty to scrutinize all of the declarations and had the authority to strike any of them, regardless of whether the declarants were putative class members. (Id. at p. 336.)
The circumstances that compelled reversal in Barriga are not present here. The record demonstrates that the trial court carefully scrutinized the declarations for coercion and abuse. Even if the court ruled that the
IV. Motion for Class Certification
Woodworth contends that the court abused its discretion by denying her motion for class certification. We agree that the court abused its discretiоn as to the class proposed for her stand-alone wage statement claim. But as to the other classes that she sought to certify, the court did not abuse its discretion.
A. Overview of Class Certification Principles and Standard of Review
“[T]he class action proponent bears the burden of establishing the propriety of class certification.” (Washington Mutual Bank v. Superior Court (2001) 24 Cal.4th 906, 922.) The movant “must demonstrate the existence of an ascertainable and sufficiently numerous class, a well-defined community of interest, and substantial benefits from certification that render proceeding as a class superior to the alternatives.” (Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 53 Cal.4th 1004, 1021 (Brinker).) “‘In turn, the “community of interest requirement embodies three factors: (1) predominant common questions of law or fact; (2) class representatives with claims or defenses typical of the class; and (3) class representatives who can adequately represent the class.“‘” (Ibid.)
The predominance element “hinges on ‘whether the theory of recovery advanced by the proponents of certification is, as an analytical matter, likely to prove amenable to class treatment.‘” (Brinker, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 1021.) The “court must examine the plaintiff‘s theory of recovery, assess the nature of the legal and factual disputes likely to
“[W]hether common or individual questions predominate will often depend upon resolution of issues closely tied to the merits.” (Brinker, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 1024.) To assess predominance, the trial court must examine the law applicable to the plaintiff‘s causes of action and “determine whether the elements necessary to establish liability are susceptible of common proof or, if not, whether there are ways to manage effectively proof of any elements that may require individualized evidence.” (Ibid.) In addition, the court must consider the defendant‘s affirmative defenses, because the individualized issues presented by those defenses may predominate over common issues. (Walsh v. IKON Office Solutions, Inc. (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 1440, 1450.)
Even if common questions predominate, “[i]n considering whether a class action is a superior device for resolving a controversy,” the court “must pay careful attention” to the manageability of any individual issues, including those arising from affirmative defenses. (Duran v. U.S. Bank National Assn. (2014) 59 Cal.4th 1, 29 (Duran).) Class certification is appropriate only if the plaintiff‘s trial plan shows how the individual issues can be managed fairly and efficiently. (Id. at pp. 27, 29.) “[A]ny procedure to determine the defendant‘s liability to the class must still permit the defendant to introduce its own evidence, both to challenge the plaintiffs’ showing and to reduce overall
Trial courts have broad discretion to grant or deny certification because they are “ideally situated to evaluate the efficiencies and practicalities of permitting group action.” (Linder v. Thrifty Oil Co. (2000) 23 Cal.4th 429, 435 (Linder).) Our review is “narrowly circumscribed.” (Brinker, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 1022.) “[W]e must examine the trial court‘s reasons for denying class certification. ‘Any valid pertinent reason stated will be sufficient to uphold the order.‘” (Linder, supra, at p. 436.) But if the court‘s stated reasons “are erroneous, we must reverse, whether or not other reasons not relied upon might have supported the ruling.” (Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, Inc. (2014) 59 Cal.4th 522, 530 (Ayala).)
We review the court‘s order granting or denying certification “‘for a manifest abuse of discretion.‘” (Brinker, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 1022Ibid.) Overall, we will not disturb the court‘s order “‘unless (1) it is unsupported by substantial evidence, (2) it rests on improper criteria, or (3) it rests on erroneous legal assumptions.‘” (Ibid.)
The predominance element presents a factual question, so we review the trial court‘s predominance finding for substantial evidence. (Brinker, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 1022; Sav-On Drug Stores, supra, 34 Cal.4th at p. 328.) “[I]f the parties’ evidence is
B. Woodworth‘s Class Certification Motion
Woodworth moved to certify five classes of current and former medical center employees. The proposed “‘AWS Overtime Class‘” consisted of all hourly nonexempt employees who were scheduled to work and did work at least one day of more than eight hours and up to 12 hours without receiving overtime pay. (Boldface omitted.)
The proposed “‘Regular Rate Class‘” consisted of all hourly nonexempt emрloyees who were paid overtime or a missed meal or rest period premium (the missed
The proposed “‘Rest Break Class‘” consisted of all hourly nonexempt employees who were in patient care and worked under the medical center‘s policy requiring employees to remain on premises during their rest periods. “Alternatively,” Woodworth proposed a Rest Break Class consisting of nonexempt patient care employees who did not take at least one rest period because the medical center failed to provide a relief worker. (Boldface omitted.)
The proposed “‘Wage Statement Class‘” consisted of all hourly nonexempt employees who received a wage statement that did not include “‘Total Hours Worked‘” or did not accurately report hourly rates and all wages earned. (Boldface omitted.) Woodworth characterized this as both a stand-alone class and a derivative class.
The proposed “‘Waiting Time Penalty Class‘” consisted of all hourly nonexempt employees who no longer worked for the medical center but were members of the AWS Overtime Class, the Regular Rate Class, or the Rest Break Class. (Boldface omitted.) Woodworth characterized this as a derivative class only.
Woodworth contends that the court abused its discretion by denying certification of the AWS Overtime Class because she presented substantial evidence of common legal and factual issues. The argument lacks merit.
i. Relevant Background
Woodworth proposed an AWS Overtime Class period starting in June 2010 and ending on the date of certification. According to her moving papers, this class consisted of 5,855 employees who worked shifts of eight and one-half, nine, 10, or 12 hours during which they were paid straight time wages only. The medical center instituted the relevant AWS’s through elections dating back to 2001.
Woodworth argued that the medical center would have the burden of proving that it had instituted a valid AWS for the various work units that were subject to an AWS. In her trial plan, she explained that the medical center would have to prove that (1) it made the proper written disclosures to the employees before they voted on whether to adopt the AWS, (2) it duly noticed informational meetings with the employees before the votes, and (3) each unit of affected employees voted in favor of the AWS by a two-thirds majority. She further argued that there were “no true ‘individual’ issues” as to this class because the medical center used the same method and templates for all of the AWS elections. She asserted that the template disclosures were invalid on their face, so the question of whether the medical center complied with the applicable legal requirements for disclosures, which Wage Order 5 sets forth, was common to all class members.
Woodworth’s evidence in support of the motion included 12 examples of AWS agreements with various dates. (See
Woodworth also offered 18 examples of written disclosures that the medical center had provided to employees for AWS elections in 2013 and 2014. (See
Woodworth relied on deposition testimony from several medical center employees stating that the medical center used templates for the AWS written disclosures. One employee—Kenya Baker, the manager of compensation in the human resources department—testified that she had made changes to the templates, but she could not recall the specific changes.
Woodworth contended that all of the AWS disclosures failed to comply with Wage Order 5, because they did not fully disclose the proposed AWS’s effects on wages, hours, and benefits. She identified eight claimed omissions in the disclosures. Woodworth also claimed that the AWS’s were invalid because the AWS disclosures and agreements granted the medical center the right to terminate the AWS’s. She further claimed that the medical center had not complied with “additional pre-election requirements,” but she did not elaborate further. Instead, she cited her brief in opposition to the medical center’s earlier motion for summary adjudication on the AWS defense. That brief is not part of the record.6
In opposition to the class certification mоtion, the medical center argued that Woodworth was not an adequate class representative because she had a conflict of interest with the current medical center employees. The medical center asserted that the AWS’s were popular, and the employees had voted overwhelmingly to adopt them. If they were invalidated, the medical center would adopt five eight-hour shifts per week. According to the medical center, because Woodworth sought to invalidate the AWS’s and the majority of employees had voted for them, she had a conflict that precluded her from representing the class.
The medical center also argued that common questions of law or fact did not predominate because liability would depend on reviewing the election procedures for hundreds of AWS elections. The medical center offered evidence that it had conducted more than 390 AWS elections between 2001 and 2013, approximately 150 elections in 2013, and approximately 100 elections since 2013.
The medical center’s opposition relied in large part on the declaration of Baker, who had been directly involved in conducting AWS elections since 2003. According to Baker’s declaration, the medical center did not use the same templates for all AWS elections. Baker had personally revised most of the template agreements on which Woodworth relied in her moving papers. There were “dozens of other forms” of agreements that the medical center had used for other elections. The medical center offered 12 more examples of AWS agreements that were substantially similar but not identical. Baker asserted that the examples were not an exhaustive set of all templates used for the AWS elections. The medical center also offered 20 more examples of AWS disclosure statements that, again, were substantially similar but not identical.
Setting aside the template agreements and disclosures, the medical center also argued that Woodworth sought to challenge the AWS elections for reasons that did not apply to all of the hundreds of elections. It noted that in discovery, it had asked her to state the facts supporting her allegation that the medical center failed to institute a valid AWS. Woodworth responded with numerous factual theories, including that (1) the medical center had failed to report the results of many AWS elections to the Division of Labor Statistics and Research (DLSR); and (2) a change in work hours could not be
The medical center argued that the failure to report the results of an AWS election, the failure to observe the 30-day waiting period, or the failure to obtain the required two-thirds approval might, if proven, invalidate some elections but not others in which those failures did not occur. It thus argued that Woodworth’s theories would require election-specific evidence and would generate different results for the hundreds of different elections.
In her reply brief, Woodworth continued to argue that whether the AWS disclosures and agreements complied with Wage Order 5 presented a common question applicable to all AWS Overtime Class members. She argued that her other theories of liability—such as the failure to observe the 30-day waiting period or the failure to report AWS election results to the DLSR—did not preclude certification. She contended that to the extent those theories applied to some but not all AWS elections, the court could certify subclasses to address them.
The trial court denied certification of the AWS Overtime Class for several reasons. To start, the court concluded that Woodworth was not an adequate class representative, because she had a conflict of interest with the AWS Overtime Class.
In addition, the court concluded that common questions of law or fact did not predominate, so Woodworth failed to show a well-defined community of interest. It observed that proof of liability would depend on the validity of potentially hundreds of different AWS elections. The court rejected Woodworth’s argument that the AWS templates permitted common proof, noting that even if the documents were similar, that “does not show they [were] the same.” The court also observed that one of Woodworth’s theories of liability—the failure to gain a two-thirds majority approval—would require individual proof. And the court rejected Woodworth’s argument that the court could certify subclassеs to deal with the various theories of liability, noting that it was unclear whether the proposed subclasses would require the parties “to go back to the drawing board on discovery that should have occurred pre-certification.” Lastly, the court ruled that Woodworth had not provided a manageable trial plan for dealing with the validity of hundreds of AWS elections.
ii. Analysis
When the Legislature enacted
Wage Order 5 governs AWS’s in the health care industry. (
Here, the record contains substantial evidence supporting the trial court’s finding that common questions of law or fact did not predominate. The medical center proffered evidence that the thousands of employees in the proposed AWS Overtime Class had worked or were working under AWS’s implemented through hundreds of separate elections dating back to 2001. In defending against Woodworth’s overtime claim, the medical center would have the burden of proving the validity of all those AWS’s. That would require the medical center to prove that it had made the proper written disclosures, duly noticed pre-election meetings, held the meetings at least 14 days before the elections, and obtained a two-thirds majority approval for each AWS. In addition, Woodworth’s theories of liability included other claimed failures to comply with AWS requirements, such as the failure to report the results of the election to the DLSR and the failure to observe the 30-day waiting period for implementing a newly approved AWS.
Woodworth argued that the medical center’s AWS templates would permit common proof of liability because they all contained the same material omissions, but that was not uniformly true. For instance, any AWS agreement adopted under Wage Order 5 “shall provide for not less than four (4) hours of work in any shift.” (
In any event, even if the medical center used identical templates for its written disclosures for the hundreds of AWS elections, the sufficiency of those disclosures presented only one issue subject to common proof. The medical center would still have to prove that for each of the hundreds of elections at issue, the other requirements were met. (Soderstedt v. CBIZ Southern California, LLC (2011) 197 Cal.App.4th 133, 154 [“‘A court may properly deny certification where there are diverse factual issues to be resolved even though there may also be many common questions of law’“].) Each election would present an individualized factual determination regarding whether the medical center duly noticed pre-election meetings and whether each voting unit approved the AWS by a two-thirds vote. And Woodworth had other theories of liability that required an individualized look at the elections—the failure to report election results to the DLSR and the failure to wait 30 days before implementing a new AWS. She did not demonstrate how compliance with those other requirements was subject to common proof. (Brinker, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 1052 [certification not proper when no evidence of uniform practice showing employer knew employees performed off-the-clock work, and nothing before the court demonstrated how that could be shown through common proof].) Substantial evidence thus supports the trial court’s finding that common
Moreover, the court did not abuse its discretion by concluding that Woodworth failed to present a manageable trial plan for determining the validity of hundreds of AWS elections. While she proposed subclasses in her reply brief to deal with her various theories of noncompliance, she did not explain at all how the subclasses would manage the individualized issues arising from the existence of hundreds of elections. (Evans v. Lasco Bathware, Inc. (2009) 178 Cal.App.4th 1417, 1434 (Evans) [“creating subclasses here would merely resurrect all of the individualized issues . . . as well as individualized showing[s] of damages, which would splinter the class into thousands of minitrials and largely defeat the benefits of proceeding as a class action“]; Payton v. CSI Electrical Contractors, Inc. (2018) 27 Cal.App.5th 832, 844 [general outline of a two-phase trial “‘fail[ed] to show how the individualized issues arising from Defendants’ defenses can be managed’“].) She therefore failed to carry her burden of showing that class treatment was appropriate.
Woodworth argues that the court abused its discretion because she presented substantial evidence of common questions with respect to the templates. But on appeal, we do not ask whether her evidence may have been sufficient to support class certification. (Dailey, supra, 214 Cal.App.4th at p. 992.) We ask only whether the record contains substantial evidence supporting the trial court’s predominance finding. (Ibid.) It does.
For all of these reasons, the court did not abuse its discretion by denying certification of the AWS Overtime Class on the basis of the predominance element or the manageability requirement. In light of that conclusion, we need not reach Woodworth’s independent argument that the court erred because she did not have a conflict of interest with the class members. (Cruz v. Sun World Internat., LLC (2015) 243 Cal.App.4th 367, 394 (Cruz) [because substantial evidence supported trial court’s predominance finding, appellate court did not need to address trial court’s rulings on other elements of class certification], disapproved on another ground by Noel v. Thrifty Payless, Inc. (2019) 7 Cal.5th 955, 986, fn. 15.)
2. Regular Rate Class
Woodworth argues that the court abused its discretion by denying certification of the Regular Rate Class because common questions predominated. The argument again lacks merit.
i. Relevant Background
According to Woodworth’s moving papers, the Regular Rate Class consisted of 1,435 employees who received flat sum bonuses and an unspecified number of employees who received Christmas bonuses. She argued that the medical center had a uniform practice of excluding Christmas bonuses and other flat sum bonuses from the calculation of an employee’s regular rate of pay. She contended that Christmas bonuses and flat sum bonuses were nondiscretionary and that the law therefore required them to be included when calculating the regular rate of pay. Moreover, she argued that whether
Woodworth offered deposition testimony from the medical center’s payroll manager, Crystal Bowell, who testified that the medical center uniformly excluded Christmas bonuses from the regular rate calculation. She also offered the medical center’s written policy on Christmas bonuses, which described the Christmas bonus as “[a] discretionary bonus provided to eligible employees as a gift for their service.”
In its opposition papers, the medical center argued that common questions of fact or law did not predominate, because liability would depend on “employee-specific” and “bonus-specific” evidence. As to the Christmas bonus, the medical center contended that employers were permitted to exclude “‘gifts on special occasions’” from the calculation of an employee’s regular rate. So long as the Christmas bonus was actually a gift and not paid pursuant to a contract, the bonus thus was excludable. But according to the medical center, Woodworth intended to claim that the medical center had promised the Christmas bonus to employees, rendering it a contractual obligation. The medical center relied on Woodworth’s discovery responses. It asked her to state the facts supporting her allegation that it had improperly calculated the regular rate of pay. She responded in part that the medical center had published an “Outline of Benefits,” which stated: “‘A Christmas bonus is available for full-time regular employees and part-time regular benefit eligible employees.’” (Boldface omitted.) She further responded that the medical center “clearly intended” employees to rely on this summary of benefits without delving into detailed policies or handbooks. The medical center argued that employee-specific
As to the flat sum bonus, the medical center argued that it did not use that term in the ordinary course of business, although it did pay multiple different types of bonuses using different criteria. According to Bowell’s declaration, the medical center’s payroll system used the code “BON” to refer to many bonuses that it had paid since the beginning of the class period (June 2010), but the medical center did not treat all BON code bonuses in the same manner. Whether the medical center excluded a particular bonus from the regular rate calculation depended on the reason for the bonus and how the medical center determined the amount of the bonus. Bowell elaborated on six nonexhaustive examples in her declaration: (1) an August 2016 bonus to thank certain employees “for a job well done“; (2) a bonus for employees who supported another hospital when that hospital implemented a new electronic medical records system; (3) a bonus for employees in a particular unit who agreed to perform extra job duties when a coworker was on leave; (4) a “one-time performance bonus” when a particular department wanted to increase the regular pay raise that employees were receiving in the ordinary course of business; (5) a new hire bonus that at least one department sometimes gave new employees; and (6) a bonus for a case manager who worked some hours as a mobile intensive care nurse. Of those six examples, the medical center excluded only the first type of bonus from the employees’ regular rate calculation. On the basis of Bowell’s declaration, the medical center argued that bonus-specific evidence would be required to
Apart from the predominance element, the medical center also argued that Woodworth was not an adequate representative of the Regular Rate Class, because there was no evidence that she had been promised a Christmas bonus, and she never received another type of bonus. She testified at her deposition that she did not expect to receive a Christmas bonus until a coworker told her that the medical center would be paying one. Also, she had never seen the Outline of Benefits, which the medical center published in January 2015, months after Woodworth had left the medical center.
In her reply brief, Woodworth argued that the Christmas bonus issue “turn[ed] on whether the bonus was discretionary” (and thus properly excluded from the regular rate) “or promised (and thus improperly excluded).” She asserted that this common legal question predominated. Similarly, she continued to argue that the exclusion of the flat sum bonus from the regular rate was a predominant common legal question.
The trial court denied certification of the Regular Rate Class. It concluded that Woodworth was not an adequate representative of the class. In addition, it found that common questions of law or fact did not predominate, because the trier of fact would have to make individualized determinations about (1) which BON code bonuses were discretionary and (2) whether the medical center promised employees bonuses. In addition, the court ruled that Woodworth failed to offer a manageable trial plan for determining which bonuses were discretionary (and thus excludable from the regular rate calculation).
ii. Analysis
“Under California law, employers must provide employees with overtime pay when employees work more than a certain amount of time.” (Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC (2021) 11 Cal.5th 858, 863 (Ferra).)
California courts construe “‘regular rate of pay’ . . . to have the same meaning as ‘regular rate’” in the
Two of the regular rate exclusions are relevant here. First, the regular rate calculation need not include “payments in the nature of gifts made at Christmas time or on other special occasions, as a reward for service.” (
Second, the regular rate calculation need not include discretionary bonuses. (
In this case, substantial evidence supports the trial court’s finding that common questions did not predominate for the Regular Rate Class. Woodworth asserted that a common legal question predominated: Did the medical center properly exclude the Christmas bonus and the flat sum bonus from the regular rate calculation? But as to the Christmas bonus, the precise factual and legal dispute likely to be presented was whether it qualified for the special occasion gift exclusion. (See Brinker, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 1025 [court must “assess the nature of the legal and factual disputes likely to be presented” when evaluating predominance element].) Woodworth acknowledged that whether the Christmas bonus was excludable turned on whether the employees had been promised the bonus. That might show that the bonus was “paid pursuant to contract.” (
With respect to the flat sum bonus, the medical center offered evidence that there was no single type of flat sum bonus. Rather, it paid many types of bonuses during the proposed class period, and the medical center included some of those in the regular rate calculation. Bonus-specific evidence would be required to determine whether the medical center had properly excluded a particular bonus as discretionary. That is, “facts specific to the bonus at issue” (
3. Rest Break Class
Woodworth argues that the court’s reasons for denying certification of the Rest Break Class were “unsound,” so it abused its discretion. We conclude that Woodworth has not shown an abuse of discretion.
i. Relevant Background
According to Woodworth’s moving papers, the Rest Break Class consisted of 7,083 patient care employees. In support of the class certification motion, Woodworth offered the declaration of Elsie Crowninshield, a doctor of nursing practice. Crowninshield determined which employees were patient care employees by reviewing the medical center’s “department descriptions and job titles.” The list of job titles representing those 7,083 patient care employees was 73 pages long.
As discussed, Woodworth proposed two options for the Rest Break Class—the on-premises Rest Break Class and the no-relief Rest Break Class. Regarding the on-premises Rest Break Class, she argued that the medical center had a facially invalid rest period policy, presenting a predominant common legal question for the class. In relevant part, the rest period policy applied to all nonexempt employees and provided for
As for the no-relief Rest Break Class, Woodworth argued that the medical center failed to provide dedicated relief personnel for patient care employees who worked 10- and 12-hour shifts. Crowninshield explained in her declaration that the medical center had “staff-to-patient ratio obligations” and that certain licensed patient care employees (like nurses) had similar ethical obligations. She opined that without adequate relief personnel, patient care employees were prone to missing breaks to ensure that they were providing appropriate care. After reviewing certain of the medical center’s written policies and deposition testimony, Crowninshield opined that the medical center had no system for providing dedicated rest period relief. She asserted that the medical center planned rest periods on an informal basis, did not provide formal training on rest period coverage, had no daily log or journal showing when rest periods were scheduled or taken, had no operational plan to ensure adequate staffing for rest periods, and had an onerous and intimidating process for claiming the missed break premium. (While an exhibit to Crowninshield’s declaration listed the documents and deposition testimony that she had reviewed in forming her opinions, Woodworth did not provide the majority of those documents with her moving papers.)
In her trial plan, Woodworth asserted that she would prove the failure to provide rest periods by deposing a random sample of Rest Break Class members. She would ask them whether they were restricted to the medical center’s premises for rest periods and how often, on average, they took rest periods in which they were permitted to leave the premises. In addition, she would ask them how often relief personnel was available. She would also rely on Crowninshield’s testimony, scheduling documents, and “daily assignment sheets.”
Regarding sampling, Woodworth offered a declaration from Kriegler, the same statistician on whom she relied in connection with the motion for summary adjudication on the rounding claim. Kriegler opined that the parties could randomly select class members to depose in increments of 25. The parties would analyze the testimony from the first 25 Rest Break Class members to gauge whether the margins of error were sufficiently small. If the margins were small enough, there would be no need for further depositions. If they were not sufficiently small, the parties would proceed with the next batch of 25 depositions. Kriegler provided calculations for the margin of error under various hypothetical circumstances, using sample sizes ranging from 20 to 200 class members.
Regarding the no-relief class, the medical center likewise argued that the theory would require an individualized inquiry, because there was no uniform policy or practice of failing to provide relief or rest periods. It again relied on the putative class members’ declarations. Many of the 12-hour employees said that they could take three rest periods if they wanted to do so, they had someone to relieve them while they took their breaks, or
The medical center also argued that Woodworth had not shown that the Rest Break Class was ascertainable. She defined it as all patient care employees, but according to the executive director of benefits and compensation, Woodworth’s 73-page list of patient care job titles did not accurately identify patient care employees. The list included whole departments that had nothing to do with patient care, employees who did not provide patient care, or employees who might provide patient care on some days but not others. Overall, there were hundreds of job titles on the list that did not involve patient care at all or most of the time. There was no accurate, existing list that identified patient care positions by job title and department. The medical center argued that to develop an accurate list, the court would need to hear evidence on what hundreds of employees do.
The medical center further argued that Woodworth had no manageable trial plan for dealing with the individual issues raised by both the on-premises and the no-relief classes. It asserted that her plan to randomly sample class members for deposition was
In her reply brief, Woodworth narrowed the definition of the Rest Break Class, proposing two alternatives. The first option was all patient care employees who worked only 12-hour shifts. Using her 73-page list of patient care positions, she narrowed the class down to 4,584 members fitting that description. The second option was patient care employees who were registered nurses and worked only 12-hour shifts. She did not specify how many people would be in that second alternative class.
Woodworth continued to argue that the legality of the on-premises rest break policy presented a predominant common question warranting certification. She further argued that the medical center had a systematic practice of failing to provide 12-hour patient care employees with relief personnel and that damages could be resolved through
The court denied certification of the Rest Break Class. As to the proposed on-premises class, the court’s order was somewhat unclear on the predominance element. In the section of the order addressing that element, the court noted that Woodworth based her theory of liability on the on-premises policy. But it did not expressly decide whether common questions predominated for the on-premises class. However, in the section of the order addressing manageability, the court concluded that Woodworth had “failed to demonstrate manageability in her trial plan,” given that it would have to determine which patient care employees “missed breaks because they were required to remain on premises.”
As to the proposed no-relief class, the court ruled that common questions did not predominate. It observed that Woodworth had not produced evidence of a common policy or practice of denying 12-hour employees rest periods and that individualized inquiries would predominate as to the reasons that employees did not take rest periods. The court additionally observed that the “ ‘patient care’ label” was “problematic,” because the medical center had shown that Woodworth’s list of patient care job titles included employees who did not provide patient care. The court ruled that Woodworth had not provided a manageable trial plan for determining which employees were patient care employees.
“California law requires employers to relieve their employees of all work-related duties and employer control during 10-minute rest periods.” (Augustus, supra, 2 Cal.5th at p. 272.) As relevant here, employees are entitled to 10 minutes of rest for every four hours worked “or major fraction thereof.” (
In this case, Woodworth fails to show that the court erred by denying certification of the on-premises Rest Break Class. Her theory of liability asserts that the medical center’s written policy violated the law requiring rest periods free from duties and employer control.7 The medical center would defend itself by showing that regardless of its written policy, it did not actually require employees to remain on premises. In other words, even if the policy were unlawful on its face, the medical center did not enforce the
With respect to the no-relief Rest Break Class, substantial evidence supports the court’s finding that common questions did not predominate. The evidence showed that the formal rest period policy complied with the law by providing for three rest periods when an employee worked a 12-hour shift. Crowninshield opined that the medical center had no system for providing dedicated relief personnel, but beyond Woodworth’s own declaration, Woodworth did not proffer any evidence that the medical center deniеd rest periods because relief personnel were lacking. Woodworth’s individual experience did not constitute evidence of a “uniform, companywide policy.” (Brinker, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 1052.)
The medical center, on the other hand, proffered evidence that there was no uniform practice of denying rest periods for lack of relief personnel, and Woodworth does not persuasively explain how liability could be shown through common proof. (See, e.g., Arenas v. El Torito Restaurants, Inc. (2010) 183 Cal.App.4th 723, 734 [“having credited defendants’ evidence over plaintiffs’, the trial court could reasonably conclude there was insufficient evidence of widespread misclassification, hence plaintiffs’ theory of recovery was not susceptible to common proof”].) Many of the putative class member declarants took three rest periods on their 12-hour shifts. Even if the declarants did not take all of their rest periods, some said that they voluntarily chose to skip rest periods and that relief was available if they wanted to take the rest periods. And the declarations showed that the process for taking rest periods varied. Some supervisors scheduled rest
In sum, substantial evidence supports the trial court’s predominance finding on the no-relief Rest Break Class, so the court did not abuse its discretion by denying certification of the class. Moreover, Woodworth has not shown that the court abused its discretion by denying certification of the on-premises Rest Break Class on manageability grounds. Given those conclusions, we need not reach Woodworth’s additional argument that the court erred by rejecting her definition of patient care employees for the Rest Break Class. (Cruz, supra, 243 Cal.App.4th at p. 394.)
4. Wage Statement Class
Woodworth argues that the court abused its discretion when it determined that common questions did not predominate as to the Wage Statement Class and that she was an inadequate representative. We conclude that the court abused its discretion by
i. Relevant Background
Under
Woodworth sought to certify the Wage Statement Class on stand-alone and derivative theories. As to the stand-alone class, Woodworth presented evidence that before June 2018, the medical center issued wage statements that did not include a line item showing the total hours worked by an employee. Beginning in June 2018, the medical center added a line item setting forth “Total Worked Hours” (capitalization and boldface omitted), as the following example illustrates:
As to the derivative Wage Statement Class, Woodworth argued that liability would depend on the class members’ overtime and regular rate claim. That is, to the extent that the medical center owed class members overtime pay or missed break premiums, the wage statements did not accurately reflect all of their overtime pay or premium pay.
The medical center argued in opposition that common questions did not predominate for this class. It contended that under Morgan v. United Retail Inc. (2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 1136 (Morgan),
The medical center contended that common proof of liability was lacking because the employees’ wage statements differed greatly. Even before June 2018, some employees received simple wage statements that did not require arithmetic at all to
This employee worked 80 regular hours during the pay period, and the line item for the total accurately reported 80 total hours worked. Other employees received wаge statements that included regular hours and overtime hours, like this one:
This employee worked 79.8 regular hours and 0.8 overtime hours, and the line item for the total accurately reported 80.6 total hours worked.
Other employees received more complex wage statements, like this one that Woodworth received in April 2012:
The medical center argued that Woodworth’s theory of liability turned on the complexity of the wage statement and whether the employee could use simple arithmetic to determine total hours worked, which would require individual inquiries for each employee and each wage statement. The medical center would seek to introduce the wage statements of hundreds of employees and would call those employees to testify that they had no difficulty determining the total hours worked from their wage statements. Thus, individual questions predominated, and Woodworth had no manageable trial plan for that. In addition, the medical center argued that Woodworth could not represent the class because she had admitted that she could determine her total hours worked by adding her regular hours and double time hours.
As to the derivative Wage Statement Class, the medical center argued that California law did not permit derivative wage statement liability for an underlying wage
In Woodworth’s reply brief, she argued that Morgan did not apply because it was factually distinguishable, and in any event, whether it applied was a legal question common to the entire class. She further argued that even if the medical center were not required to include a single line item accurately reporting total hours worked, there was a common predominant question as to whether employees could determine their total hours worked from the more complex wage statements. She used another of her wage statements as an example, this one from October 2013:
The line item reporting total hours did not accurately reflect her total hours worked for the period, because the figure included night differential hours, weekend differential hours, and paid leave hours. The line item for night differential and weekend differential hours merely reported extra pay that she received for working night and weekend shifts, and she did not work during the paid sick leave hours. Thus, the total reported on more
Woodworth relied again on Kriegler’s declaration in support of her reply brief. He had examined the payroll data for all current and former employees from June 2013 to August 2015. According to him, 90.4 percent of the pay periods included hours for shift differentials, paid time off, and/or holiday bonuses in the total reported hours. Thus, the total did not accurately reflect hours actually worked on 90.4 percent of the wage statements for that period. He identified 13 earnings codes that he characterized as shift differentials or paid time off resulting in the discrepancy. Woodworth contended that whether those 90.4 percent of wage statements violated
The court denied certification of the stand-alone Wage Statement Class. Citing Morgan, the court observed that
In addition, because Woоdworth had testified that she could add the hours on her wage statement and determine her total hours worked, the court ruled that she was not an adequate representative for the class. As to the derivative Wage Statement Class, the court denied certification because it was denying certification on the underlying AWS Overtime and Regular Rate Classes.
ii. Analysis
As discussed,
Here, the record does not contain substantial evidence to support the court’s predominance finding on the stand-alone Wage Statement Class. The evidence showed
Moreover, the court abused its discretion by concluding that Woodworth was an inadequate representative of the stand-alone Wage Statement Class. The trial court may conclude that the class representative does not satisfy the adequacy requirement if the
As to the derivative Wage Statement Class, however, Woodworth fails to show an abuse of discretion. She argues that the court erred by denying certification of the underlying AWS Overtime and Regular Rate Classes, so it necessarily erred by denying certification of the derivative class. But because we have determined that the court properly denied certification of the underlying classes, we reject Woodworth’s argument.
In sum, the court abused its discretion by denying certification of the stand-alone Wage Statement Class. The record does not contain substantial evidence to support the
5. Waiting Time Penalty Class
Woodworth sought to certify a Waiting Time Penalty Class that was “purely derivative” of her AWS Overtime, Regular Rate, and Rest Break Classes. Her moving papers addressed the Waiting Time Penalty Class in three brief sentences and did not discuss any evidence or authorities. The court denied certification of the Waiting Time Penalty Class because there was “no support in [Woodworth’s] motion for certification” of the class. On appeal, Woodworth argues that the court abused its discretion because it should have certified the underlying classes. Because we have determined that the court properly denied certification of the underlying classes, we reject the argument.
The medical center moved for summary adjudication on Woodworth’s regular rate, wage statement, and waiting time claims. (The medical center labeled the motion, “Motion for Summary Adjudication No. 1” (capitalization and boldface omitted).) It sought summary adjudication of her individual claims as well as the PAGA cause of action, to the extent that she based that cause of action on the regular rate, wage statement, and waiting time claims. The court granted the motion in its entirety. We conclude that the court erred with respect to (1) the PAGA regular rate claim, (2) Woodworth’s individual wage statement claim and the PAGA wage statement claim, and (3) the PAGA waiting time claim. The court properly granted summary adjudication, however, on Woodworth’s individual regular rate and waiting time claims.
A. Regular Rate Claim
Woodworth argues that the court erred by granting summary adjudication in favor of the medical center as to her individual regular rate claim and the PAGA regular rate claim. We disagree that the court erred by granting summary adjudication on her individual claim. But as to the PAGA regular rate claim, we agree that the court erred.
1. Relevant Background
The medical center offered its written policy on the Christmas bonus in support of the motion for summary adjudication. The policy described the bonus as a “discretionary bonus provided to eligible employees as a gift for their service.” “The availability of the bonus, the amount, and the eligibility criteria [were] discretionary and subject to review,
In support of the motion, the medical center also offered another declaration from Bowell, the payroll manager. According to her, management met each fall and instructed payroll whether it would be giving Christmas bonuses that year and, if so, how to determine who would receive the bonus and the dollar amount. Bowell explained that the medical center did not strictly follow the eligibility factors in the written policy. For instance, in 2012 and 2013, the medical center gave Christmas bonuses to employees who did not qualify under the eligibility factors.
Each year since 2010, the medical center paid Christmas bonuses of between $50 and $500. It gave Woodworth Christmas bonuses in 2012 and 2013 of $344.11 and $356.40, respectively. The medical center did not pay Woodworth any other type of bonus. It did not base the amount of her Christmas bonuses on the number of hours she worked, her production, or her efficiency. The medical center gave whatever dollar
In January 2015, the medical center published an outline of employee benefits. That outline explained that “[a] Christmas bonus is available for full-time regular employees and part-time regular benefit eligible employees.” It also referred employees to the full policy on Christmas bonuses.
According to Woodworth‘s deposition testimony, the medical center did not promise to pay her a Christmas bonus when it hired her. She did not expect a Christmas bonus until a coworker told her that they would be receiving one. She had never seen the outline of employee benefits and did not rely on any of the information in it.
On the basis of the foregoing evidence, the medical center argued that it properly excluded the Christmas bonus from the regular rate calculation under both the special occasion gift exclusion and the discretionary bonus exclusion. It further argued that Woodworth was precluded from pursuing her flat sum bonus theory; she did not allege it in the TAC or disclose it in her discovery responses but raised it for the first time in her class certification motion. In the alternative, the medical center argued that her flat sum bonus theory lacked merit because she never received a bonus apart from the Christmas bonus. Finally, the medical center argued that it was entitled to summary adjudication on the PAGA regular rate claim because Woodworth‘s regular rate claim lacked merit.
The medical center submitted another declaration from Bowell with its reply papers. Bowell explained that in 2012 and 2013, the medical center‘s administration instructed payroll to give Woodworth a bonus that would yield $200 after taxes were deducted. Her Christmas bonuses of $344.11 and $356.40 yielded after-tax gifts of $200.
The trial court granted the summary adjudication motion on Woodworth‘s individual regular rate claim and the PAGA regular rate claim. The court ruled that the medical center‘s evidence showed that it properly calculated the regular rate of pay, and there was no triable issue of material fact.
2. Analysis
The medical center carried its initial burden of demonstrating that Woodworth‘s individual regular rate claim lacked merit. The medical center‘s evidence showed that the Christmas bonus qualified for the special occasion gift exclusion, and the medical center therefore could exclude the bonus when calculating employees’ regular rate of
In response to the medical center‘s showing on the Christmas bonus, Woodworth failed to show a triable issue of material fact. She argues that there was a factual dispute as to whether the Christmas bonus qualified as a discretionary bonus. However, the discretionary bonus and the special occasion gift are independent exclusions. A bonus need qualify for only “one of these types” of exclusions to be excluded from the regular rate calculation. (
Woodworth further argues that the trial court erred by implicitly overruling her objections to Bowell‘s declaration and relying on the declaration. She does not explain the basis for her objections, why the court erred by overruling them, and why any error was prejudicial. She thus forfeited the argument. (Cahill, supra, 194 Cal.App.4th at p. 956.)
The court‘s PAGA ruling, however, is a different matter. The medical center argued that it was entitled to summary adjudication on the PAGA regular rate claim because Woodworth‘s individual claim lacked merit. But the regular rate claim of the aggrieved employees is not wholly derivative of Woodworth‘s individual claim. In the TAC, Woodworth alleged that the medical center had “failed to properly include items of remuneration when determining the employees’ regular rate,” including “non-discretionary bonuses paid to all eligible employees.” Similarly, in Woodworth‘s prelawsuit PAGA notice to the LWDA and the medical center, she alleged that the medical center failed “to include all required remuneration (including but not limited to bonuses) when calculating the regular rate.”
The medical center offered evidence that Woodworth did not receive a bonus besides the Christmas bonus, but it did not offer evidence about any other discretionary bonus that it excluded from the regular rate calculation for other employees. Nor did it claim that such bonuses do not exist. (On appeal, the medical center acknowledges that
For all of these reasons, the court properly granted the summary adjudication motion as to Woodworth‘s individual regular rate claim, but it erred by granting the motion as to the PAGA regular rate claim.
B. Wage Statement Claim
Woodworth contends that the court erred by granting the medical center‘s summary adjudication motion on her wage statement claim. We agree. Under the Supreme Court‘s recent decision in Naranjo, the medical center was not entitled to summary adjudication on the derivative form of this claim, i.e., the claim that the wage statements failed to accurately report premium pay for missed rest periods or overtime. (Naranjo, supra, 13 Cal.5th at p. 121.) Given that the motion did not “completely dispose[]” of the claim, the court should not have granted it. (
As the medical center argued in connection with the class certification motion, it again argued that under Morgan,
In support of the summary adjudication motion, the medical center offered all of Woodworth‘s wage statements. It also relied on her deposition testimony concerning her wage statements. In the deposition excerрt, counsel questioned Woodworth about six of her wage statements, including this one from April 2012 (which we also discussed in the earlier section about the class certification motion):
Woodworth testified that she could determine her total hours worked by adding the hours for “Regular Pay” and “Double Pay” on this statement. Counsel asked if she could “tell from reading this wage statement” that “70.40 of [her] 73 regular hours [were] paid for the night differential.” She replied in the affirmative. At the end of the questioning about
In opposition to the medical center‘s motion, Woodworth argued that the medical center was not entitled to summary adjudication because it furnished inaccurate and misleading wage statements. That is, the wage statements reflected an inaccurate total for hours worked, given that the total figure double counted shift differential hours and included nonwork hours, like paid sick leave. Woodworth contended that the wage statements did not comply with
Regarding the PAGA wage statement claim, Woodworth argued that there was no injury requirement, so the medical center‘s injury argument was irrelevant. Woodworth also argued that she and the aggrieved employees had a derivative wage statement claim based on the regular rate claim, the overtime claim, and the rest period claim—that is, the wage statements were inaccurate in that they reflected an improperly calculated regular
The court granted the summary adjudication motion as to Woodworth‘s individual and PAGA wage statement claims. The court ruled that Morgan, supra, 186 Cal.App.4th 1136, rejected Woodworth‘s theory that the wage statements must include “a separate line item for ‘Total Hours Worked’ and a summation of the total hours worked[,] as this was easily determined from the information provided on the wage statements.” The court did not expressly address the derivative form of her wage statement claim.
2. Analysis
To review, under
Not all of the foregoing elements apply to a PAGA cause of action. (Lopez v. Friant & Associates, LLC (2017) 15 Cal.App.5th 773, 784 (Lopez).) Specifically, a plaintiff seeking civil penalties under PAGA for a violation of
Morgan construed the requirement that wage statements show total hours worked under
The Morgan court addressed a DLSE opinion letter interpreting
Morgan reasoned that the wage statements separately listing regular hours and overtime hours were consistent with the DLSE‘s opinion letter. (Morgan, supra, 186 Cal.App.4th at p. 1147.) The statements satisfied the obligation to list the “‘precise, actual number of hours worked,‘” and they did not leave it to the employees to add up the daily number of hours shown on time records. (Ibid.Ibid. (Ibid.)
In this case, the court properly determined that the medical center had carried its burden with respect to the stand-alone wage statement claim of Woodworth and the aggrieved employees. The medical center demonstrated that its wage statements complied with
Woodworth argues that the court erred because the wage statements “failed to provide ‘total hours worked.‘” To the extent that she means there was no line reporting the sum of regular and overtime hours worked, that was not required under Morgan. (Morgan, supra, 186 Cal.App.4th at p. 1147.) She also argues that the wage statements “provided an inaccurate hours total.” She presumably refers to the fact that the “TOTAL” on the wage statements reflected the sum of regular pay hours, double pay hours, and other earnings codes on the wage statements (like differential pay hours or paid leave hours). But on its face, that total does not purport to reflect only total hours worked, as opposed to a total of the various types of hours listed on the statement. The fact that the medical center reported that latter total does not mean that it failed to accurately report her total hours worked. Woodworth does not dispute the accuracy of the entries for regular pay hours and double pay hours, the sum of which showed total hours worked.
Notwithstanding the court‘s correct ruling on the stand-alone wage statement claim, the court erred by implicitly rejecting Woodworth‘s derivative wage statement
Woodworth and the aggrieved employees may pursue a derivative wage statement claim under Naranjo. Woodworth‘s rest period claim survives, and as we discuss in a following subpart, the PAGA rest period claim survives as well. To the extent that Woodworth proves the medical center unlawfully denied her and the aggrieved employees rest periods, the medical center owes them missed break premiums. (
In sum, the court correctly determined that the medical center was entitled to summary adjudication on the stand-alone wage statement claim. But the medical center was not entitled to summary adjudication on the derivative form of the wage statement claim, so its motion did not completely dispose of the claim. The court therefore erred by granting summary adjudication on the claim. (
C. Waiting Time Claim
Woodworth argues that the court erred by granting the medical center‘s summary adjudication motion on the waiting time claim. We agree with respect to the PAGA claim but not as to her individual claim.
In support of the medical center‘s arguments on this claim, it relied again on Bowell‘s declaration. She declared that the medical center had paid Woodworth for all hours that she worked, for all vacation time, and all other compensation owed to her. The medical center also submitted Woodworth‘s response to an interrogatory asking her to state all facts in support of her individual waiting time claim. She responded that the medical center had not paid her all wages due because of its rounding policy, the failure to include all remuneration in her regular rate calculation, the failure to pay her overtime for shifts over eight hours, and the failure to pay her missed break premiums.
The medical center argued that the waiting time claim failed because the underlying claims failed—the court had granted summary adjudication for the medical center on the rounding claim and the claim for missed meal periods, the instant motion showed her regular rate claim lacked merit, and her overtime claim failed based on a valid AWS (which was addressed in the concurrently filed summary adjudication motion on that defense). The medical center further argued that even if the underlying claims had merit, the law mandated waiting time penalties only if the failure to pay wages was willful. It contended that Woodworth‘s interrogatory response failed to set forth any facts showing willfulness. In addition, it argued, a good faith dispute that wages were due precluded a willfulness finding, and the summary adjudication motions presented a good faith dispute about whether Woodworth was due wages for the underlying claims.
Woodworth argued in her opposition brief that the medical center knew what it was doing and intended to pay the amounts set forth in the wage statements of
In its reply brief, the medical center generally argued that Woodworth had offered no evidence to dispute Bowell‘s declaration, and she had offered no evidence of a willful failure to pay wages owed at the time of her separation.
The court granted summary adjudication for the medical center on the waiting time claim. It ruled that Bowell‘s declaration showed that the medical center had paid Woodworth all wages owed. Moreover, the court ruled, Woodworth failed to offer evidence showing a triable issue of fact as to the willfulness element.
2. Analysis
If an employee gives “72 hours previous notice of his or her intention to quit,” the “employee is entitled to his or her wages at the time of quitting.” (
Also, “a good faith dispute that any wages are due will preclude imposition of waiting time penalties.” (
Here, Woodworth fails to show that the court erred by granting the summary adjudication motion on her individual waiting time claim. (Dinslage v. City and County of San Francisco (2016) 5 Cal.App.5th 368, 379 [appellant seeking review of an order granting summary adjudication bears the burden of affirmatively demonstrating error, as in any appeal].) First, she argues that the court erred by implicitly overruling her objections to the statements in Bowell‘s declaration that the medical center had paid her all compensation owing. But as before, Woodworth forfeited the argument. (Cahill, supra, 194 Cal.App.4th at p. 956.) She asserts that Bowell‘s statements amounted to
Second, Woodworth contends that evidence of the “Retro Pay” check (issued four days after she resigned) created a triable issue of fact as to whether she had a stand-alone waiting time claim. That argument lacks merit. The TAC did not allege that the medical center had issued her a check several days late. And the medical center submitted Woodworth‘s interrogatory response describing her waiting time claim as a derivative one based on underlying wage and hour violations. She made no mention of a stand-alone waiting time claim. That shifted the burden to Woodworth to show a triable issue of material fact as to a stand-alone waiting time claim. (Silva, supra, 7 Cal.App.5th at pp. 259-260 [plaintiff‘s interrogatory response was devoid of facts to support certain claims, shifting the burden to her to show a triable issue of fact on those claims]; Union Bank v. Superior Court (1995) 31 Cal.App.4th 573, 581.) Even if the check for “Retro Pay” constituted wages that were due upon her separation, she proffered no evidence that the medical center intentionally—as opposed to inadvertently or mistakenly—failed to issue the payment four days earlier. She thus did not show a triable issue of material fact on any stand-alone waiting time claim.
Third, Woodworth argues that the medical center failed to present evidence of a good faith dispute about the regular rate claim or the AWS defense, so her derivative waiting time claim should survive. We also reject that argument. A good faith defense based in law or fact constitutes a good faith dispute. The medical center presented such
However, as to the waiting time claim of the aggrieved employees, the court erred by granting summary adjudication on the PAGA waiting time claim. The medical center argued that the waiting time claim lacked merit insofar as the regular rate claim lacked merit. But we have concluded that the court erred by granting summary adjudication in favor of the medical center on the PAGA regular rate claim. Because that underlying claim survives, the derivative waiting time claim survives. Moreover, the medical center did not carry its burden of showing a good faith dispute about the PAGA regular rate claim, such that a finding of willful failure to pay would be precluded. As discussed, the
In sum, we conclude that the court properly granted summary adjudication in favor of the medical center on Woodworth‘s individual waiting time claim but not on the PAGA waiting time claim.
VI. Motion for Summary Adjudication on the AWS Defense
The medical center moved for summary adjudication on its affirmative defense to the overtime claim, the AWS defense. (The medical center labeled the motion, “Motion for Summary Adjudication No. 3” (capitalization and boldface omitted).) The trial court granted the motion as to Woodworth‘s individual overtime claim and the PAGA cause of action, to the extent that she based the latter on allegedly invalid AWS‘s. We conclude that the court did not err.
A. Relevant Background
The medical center offered the declaration of its vice president of human resources, Lizette Norton, in support of the motion. Norton started working at the medical center in July 2001, left in 2010, and returned in 2016. She was familiar with the medical center‘s policies and procedures for AWS elections from 2001 to the present.
- “Duly noticed meetings will be held for the specific purpose of discussing” the effects of the AWS.
- The AWS “shall consist of a regularly scheduled workweek of three workdays of 12 hours each,” and “[e]mployees will not receive overtime pay for their regularly scheduled hours.”
- “Employees will be paid one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek.” They “will be paid two times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 12 in a workday.”
- “The amount of overtime that an employee will be required to work will be subject to the requirements of sections 3(B1)(8) and (9) of Wage Order 5-2000.”
- “Employees who work an alternative work schedule will be eligible for all Medical Center-sponsored benefits on the same basis as other employees. . . . Employee benefits are summarized in the Employee Handbook and the summary plan descriptions given to each employee.”
“The Medical Center may terminate the use of the alternative work schedule described above upon two weeks’ advance notice. In such an event, the Medical Center may institute and implement a different schedule, workweek or work period that is consistent with any applicable legal requirements.”
Similar to the disclosure document, the AWS agreement stated that the medical center could terminate the AWS with two weeks’ advance notice to the affected employees.
The medical center posted notices to inform the employees that it would hold meetings to discuss the effects of the AWS, and it held those meetings at least 14 days before the voting began. It distributed the disclosure document again at the meetings. The medical center placed ballot boxes in the departments to collect the secret ballots. After a two-week voting period, it collected and counted the ballots. Out of 1,785 nurses eligible to vote in the election, 1,583 voted, and 1,545 voted in favor of the AWS. The work unit did not include 5 percent or more employees who primarily spoke a non-English language. The medical center reported the election results to the DLSR in October 2001.
When the medical center hired Woodworth, she agreed to the 3/12 AWS that the clinical nurses had adopted in 2001. She executed an AWS agreement in December 2011.
The 2001 AWS was in effect until 2013. The medical center restructured the AWS work units that year. In June 2013, it conducted an AWS election for registered nurses in various units, including Woodworth‘s unit. The medical center‘s policy and
Norton was not at the medical center during the 2013 election, but she had reviewed the medical center‘s records for the election, which records had been made at the time by medical center employees in the regular course of business. Those records were attached to Norton‘s declaration and showed that in April 2013, a human resources employee emailed the AWS disclosure document and a schedule for pre-election meetings to Woodworth and the other registered nurses eligible to vote in the AWS election. The medical center proposed to retain the 3/12 AWS. The relevant disclosures in the 2013 document were nearly identical to those in the 2001 disclosure document.
The medical center held pre-election meetings on various dates between May 6 and May 25, 2013. According to the medical center‘s records, Woodworth attended the May 22 meeting and voted in the election, which took place from June 11 through June 13. Out of 701 nurses eligible to vote in the election, 575 nurses voted. They all voted in favor of the 3/12 AWS. The medical center reported those results to the DLSR in June 2013. Woodworth executed a new AWS agreement in July 2013. Like the earlier AWS agreement, the new agreement stated that the medical center could terminate the AWS with two weeks’ notice to the affectеd employees.
Norton declared that the medical center required all clinical and registered nurses to be capable of reading, writing, and speaking English at a professional level. That was because the medical center maintained patient records in English, and doctors’ orders and other patient care information were conveyed in English. The nurses who were eligible
Apart from Norton‘s declaration, the medical center offered the declaration of Beth Cook, a registered nurse employed by the medical center from 1996 to the present. During the 2013 AWS election, Cook was director of patient care for two departments (orthopedics and transplant). Human resources copied her and other directors on the 2013 email attaching the AWS disclosures. According to Cook, the medical center sent that email to all registered nurses who were eligible to vote in the election.
The trial court granted the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication on the AWS defense in its entirety. The court ruled that there was no triable issue of material fact and, more specifically, that the medical center‘s evidence showed that it had substantially complied with the AWS election procedures. The court thus concluded that the medical center was entitled to summary adjudication on Woodworth‘s individual overtime claim as well as the PAGA claim, to the extent that Woodworth based the latter on the overtime claim. In addition, the court overruled Woodworth‘s objections to Norton‘s declaration. (Woodworth had filed a 37-page document consisting of 59 objections to Norton‘s declaration.)
B. Analysis
To recap, a validly adopted AWS is an exception to the overtime rules and an affirmative defense that the employer bears the burden of proving. (
Under Wage Order 5, the employer‘s proposal for an AWS shall be in the form of a written agreement. (
Before the election, the employer must disclose in writing “the effects of the proposed [AWS] on the employees’ wages, hours, and benefits.” (
Wage Order 5 also requires any AWS agreement adopted under the order to “provide for not less than four (4) hours of work in any shift.” (
In this case, the court did not err by granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication. The medical center proffered evidence that it complied with the AWS election procedures for both of the AWS‘s under which Woodworth worked. With respect to the 2001 election, Norton‘s declaration and exhibits to it established the following: The medical center mailed the AWS disclosure document to the affected employees and held meetings to discuss the proposed AWS at least 14 days before the election. The medical center provided another copy of the disclosures to the employees who attended the meetings. The population of affected employees did not consist of 5 percent or more non-English speakers, so there was no need to provide the disclosures in a language other than English. The disclosures informed employees about the AWS‘s effect on wages and hours—that is, employees would not receive overtime pay for their regularly scheduled 12-hour shifts, but they would receive overtime pay if they worked over 40 hours in the workweek or over 12 hours in the workday. As to the AWS‘s effect on benefits, the disclosures informed employees that they would be eligible for benefits on the same basis as all other employees, as summarized in the employee handbook. The secret-ballot election took place at the work site during regular work hours, which was the medical center‘s policy and practice at all times. And 1,545 out of 1,785 affected employees approved the AWS—well beyond the two-thirds vote required.
The medical center‘s evidence with respect to the 2013 election was similar. Norton‘s and Cook‘s declarations, along with their exhibits, established that the medical
On the basis of the foregoing evidence, the medical center carried its initial burden of showing a validly adopted AWS in 2001 and 2013. None of Woodworth‘s arguments persuades us that she raised a triable issue of material fact or that the court otherwise erred by granting the motion. (Dinslage, supra, 5 Cal.App.5th at p. 379 [appellant bears the burden of affirmatively demonstrating error on appeal from summary adjudication order].)
Woodworth first argues that the court erred by overruling her objections to Norton‘s declaration because Norton lacked personal knowledge of (1) what occurred during the 2001 election, (2) the email to employees regarding the 2013 election, and (3) the English language skills of the voting employees. We are not persuaded that the court committed prejudicial error here. Woodworth claims that Norton started working at the medical center after the 2001 election, but that is incorrect. Norton declared that she began working there in July 2001, and the election took place in September 2001. The court thus could reasonably conclude that Norton had personal knowledge of the 2001 election. Similarly, the court could reasonably conclude that Norton, a long-time human
Besides her evidentiary challenge to Norton‘s declaration, Woodworth argues that the medical center did not fully disclose the AWS‘s effects on wages, hours, and benefits, rendering the elections “null and void.” (
Wage Order 5 requires disclosure of the AWS‘s effects, but it does not require the employer to disclose when the AWS will have no effect. Woodworth does not identify what claimed effect the AWS had on meal and rest periods, so she fails to show any deficiency on that issue. She claims that the disclosures falsely informed the affected employees that they would be eligible for benefits on the same basis as all other employees, but that argument also is meritless. Paid leave hours provide an apt example. According to the employee handbook, employees accrued paid leave on the basis of hours worked and paid, “up to 80 hours each pay period.” The handbook also described the rate at which paid leave hours would accrue, which varied depending on how long the
In a similar vein, Woodworth claims that the medical center failed to disclose that the employees were entitled to at least four hours of work per shift. That argument also fails. She relies on the provision of Wage Order 5 stating that the AWS agreement “shall provide for not less than four (4) hours of work in any shift.” (
Woodworth also claims that the medical center failed to disclose when it may require employees to work overtime. She points to the 2001 disclosure stating that the “amount of overtime that an employee will be required to work will be subject to the requirements of sections 3(B1)(8) and (9) of Wage Order 5-2000.” The cited wage order is a former version of Wage Order 5. (See IWC Wage Order 5-2000, available at
Woodworth contends that even though the AWS disclosures cited the relevant provisions of the wage order, the medical center had to provide a copy of Wage Order 5. Otherwise, she argues, the medical center failed to disclose the AWS‘s effects on hours, and the elections were null and void. We are not persuaded by that argument for two reasons. First, the disclosures put employees on notice that special rules would govern overtime under Wage Order 5. The employees were free to ask for a copy of the wage order if it was not already posted in an employee area, and the medical center would have been obligated to provide it. (
Second, the omission of Wage Order 5‘s detailed rules did not qualify as a “[f]ailure to comply” that justified nullification of the elections. (
That is not to say that employers may pick and choose which “effects . . . on the employees’ wages, hours, and benefits” to disclose. (
Woodworth next argues that (1) both AWS‘s were invalid because the disclosures and agreements gave the medical center the right to terminate the AWS and (2) the 2013 AWS was invalid because the employees never repealed the 2001 AWS. We also reject those arguments. Wage Order 5 states that an AWS “may be repealed by the affected employees,” and the order sets forth how the employees may accomplish that through a
Woodworth also challenges the validity of both AWS‘s because the medical center failed to report the election results to the DLSE (in addition to the DLSR). She cites
Woodworth further argues that the AWS‘s were invalid because the medical center failed to present evidence that it executed the AWS agreements. As authority for the argument, she cites the provisions of Wage Order 5 dealing with meal periods. In particular, the wage order permits health care employees to waive one of their two meal periods when they work shifts longer than eight hours. (
Lastly, Woodworth challenges the 2013 AWS on the basis of two documents that the medical center produced in discovery—a script and a document answering frequently asked questions. She contends that the script erroneously informed employees that they had to vote in favor of the AWS, but she mischaracterizes the document. The script merely explained that two-thirds of the affected employees had to vote in favor of the AWS for it to pass—not that the employees were somehow required to cast a vote in favor of it. The script contemplated that the AWS could fail to pass, and it informed the employees that they would switch to eight-hour shifts if that occurred. Woodworth further contends that the documents erroneously informed the employees that they were
As for the court‘s ruling on the PAGA claim, the validity of the two AWS‘s is a defense to Woodworth‘s overtime claim and the overtime claim of any aggrieved employees who worked under the same AWS‘s. In her opposition brief, Woodworth did not argue that the medical center failed to carry its burden with respect to aggrieved employees outside of her work unit. Likewise, on appeal, she does not contend that her PAGA claim extended to aggrieved employees outside of her work unit or that the medical center failed to produce evidence about other AWS elections. She therefore forfeited any such argument, and the court properly granted summary adjudication for the medical center on the PAGA overtime claim. (DiCola, supra, 158 Cal.App.4th at p. 676; Reyes v. Kosha (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 451, 466, fn. 6.)
For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the court did not err by granting the medical center‘s summary adjudication motion on the AWS defense.12
The medical center moved for summary adjudication on the PAGA cause of action for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. (The medical center labeled this motion, “Motion for Summary Adjudication No. 2” (capitalization and boldface omitted).) After the court‘s other rulings, only the PAGA rest period claim survived. The court granted this motion as to the rest period claim, concluding that Woodworth failed to give the LWDA proper notice of the rest period claim. We agree with Woodworth that the court erred as to the rest period claim. Moreover, Woodworth gave the LWDA sufficient notice of the regular rate, wage statement, waiting time, and rounding claims under PAGA, so those claims survive as well.
A. Relevant Background
Woodworth filed her original complaint in this action on June 11, 2014. The complaint did not include a PAGA cause of action. On June 18, 2014, she sent a letter to the LWDA and the medical center, advising them of alleged Labor Code violations by the medical center (the PAGA letter). As relevant here, the PAGA letter alleged as follows:
- The medical center “failed to properly compensate its non-exempt work force the proper amount of straight time and overtime wages as a result of, but not limited to, its unlawful rounding policies and failure to include all required remuneration (including but not limited to bonuses) when cаlculating the regular rate for overtime purposes.”
The medical center‘s “rounding policy is set up such that it systematically underpays California based non-exempt employees for all hours worked.” - The medical center did “not provide the requisite number of rest periods for a 12 hour shift, such that only two (2) rest periods are provided to the non-exempt hourly employees.” Further, Woodworth was “denied . . . rest periods . . . and thus entitled to an extra hour of pay at the regular rate of pay.”
- “[E]ach non-exempt employee that is no longer employed with [the medical center], [who] was subjected to the . . . improper regular rate calculation, was not paid all earned wages at termination.” Similarly, Woodworth “and the aggrieved employees were not paid all their wages at the time of termination,” so they were “entitled to recover back wages” and waiting time “penalties under [section] 203.”
- The medical center “failed to provide accurate itemized wage statements based on the underlying wage and hour violations.” Similarly, “the pay stubs issued by the [medical center] did not comply with the provisions of [section] 226.”
The PAGA letter elsewhere alleged that the medical center had violated numerous Labor Code sections, including
Woodworth offered her counsel‘s declaration to show that she attached her original complaint to the PAGA letter. The letter stated that the complaint was attached, and it referenced the complaint several times. For instance, at the beginning of the letter, it stated that it was from Woodworth “on behalf of herself and all aggrieved employees who were subject to the employer‘s wage and hour policies as set forth below and in the attached Complaint.”
On June 23, 2014, Woodworth filed her first amended complaint, which added the PAGA cause of action. The LWDA responded to Woodworth‘s PAGA letter on July 21, 2014. It stated that it did not intend to investigate her allegations.
The medical center argued in its moving papers that Woodworth had failed to exhaust her administrative remedies under PAGA. More specifically, it argued that the PAGA letter was a string of legal conclusions without any supporting facts and theories, and the letter therefore failed to give the LWDA and the medical center proper notice of any of Woodworth‘s claims. It additionally argued that Woodworth had brought her
Woodworth opposed the motion, arguing that her PAGA letter and the attached complaint sufficiently set forth the facts and theories underlying her PAGA cause of action. She further contended that her prematurely filed first amended complaint did not mandate dismissal of the PAGA cause of action, because the LWDA‘s later response cured any problem.
The court granted the medical center‘s motion “as to all claims alleged in the [PAGA cause of action] not otherwise summarily adjudicated in favor” of the medical center—namely, the PAGA rest period claim. The court concluded that Woodworth had two rest period theories: (1) the medical center‘s written policy unlawfully required employees to stay on premises during rest periods; and (2) the medical center failed to provide sufficient relief personnel so that nurses who work 12-hour shifts could take a third rest period. The court ruled that the PAGA notice and attached complaint did not provide sufficient notice of either theory of liability.
B. Analysis
Under PAGA, “an ‘aggrieved employee’ may bring a civil action personally and on behalf of other current or former employees to recover civil penalties for Labor Code violations. [Citation.] Of the civil penalties recovered, 75 percent goes to the [LWDA], leaving the remaining 25 percent for the ‘aggrieved employees.‘” (Arias v. Superior Court (2009) 46 Cal.4th 969, 980-981 (Arias), fn. omitted.) “PAGA created a type of qui
Because a PAGA action “is fundamentally a law enforcement action, a plaintiff must first allow the appropriate state authorities to investigate the alleged Labor Code violations.” (Huff, supra, 23 Cal.App.5th at p. 753.) Thus, PAGA requires that the aggrieved employee “give written notice” to the LWDA and the employer “of the specific provisions of [the Labor Code] alleged to have been violated, including the facts and theories to support the alleged violation.” (
“The evident purpose of the notice requirement is to afford the relevant state agency, the [LWDA], the opportunity to decide whether to allocate scarce resources to an investigation, a decision better made with knowledge of the allegations an aggrieved employee is making and any basis for those allegations. Notice to the employer serves the purpose of allowing the employer to submit a response to the agency [citation], again
A “‘“PAGA notice must be specific enough such that the LWDA and the defendant can glean the underlying factual basis for the alleged violations.” [Citation.] Conversely, “a string of legal conclusions with no factual allegations or theories of liability to support them . . . is insufficient to allow the [LWDA] to intelligently assess the seriousness of the alleged violations.” [Citations.] Plaintiff, however, need not set forth “every potential fact or every future theory.” [Citations.] “Under California‘s Labor Code, a written notice is sufficient so long as it contains some basic facts about the violations, such as which provision was allegedly violated and who was allegedly harmed.“‘” (Gunther v. Alaska Airlines, Inc. (2021) 72 Cal.App.5th 334, 350 (Gunther).)
Here, the trial court erred by concluding that the PAGA letter and attached complaint did not give sufficient notice of Woodworth‘s rest period claim. The PAGA letter identified the specific Labor Code violation at issue—a violation of section 226.7, which prohibits requiring an employee to work through a mandated rest period and requires the missed break premium. (
At the same time, no facts alleged in the PAGA letter or complaint addressed Woodworth‘s alternative theory that the on-premises rest period policy was unlawful on its face. To that extent, the court properly concluded that the PAGA letter did not comply with the notice requirement. Still, the medical center was not entitled to summary adjudication on the PAGA rest period claim, given that the motion did not completely dispose of the claim. (See Rojas-Cifuentes v. Superior Court (2020) 58 Cal.App.5th 1051, 1058 (Rojas-Cifuentes) [“PAGA notice supplied sufficient ‘facts and theories’ to support at least some of the violations” alleged, so court should have denied motion seeking summary adjudication of entire cause of action].)
Because we conclude that the court improperly granted summary adjudication on the PAGA regular rate, wage statement, waiting time, and rounding claims, we also examine whether the PAGA letter and attached complaint gave sufficient notice of those claims. We conclude that they did. (We need not address whether Woodworth gave sufficient notice of the overtime claim because, as discussed in another part of this opinion, that PAGA claim fails for different reasons.)
The PAGA letter identified the sections of the Labor Code that the medical center had allegedly violated in connection with the regular rate claim—sections 226.7 and 510. (
We reach the same conclusion with respect to the wage statement claim. The PAGA letter identified the specific provision of the Labor Code allegedly violated (
The PAGA letter also gave sufficient notice of the waiting time claim. The letter alleged that the aggrieved employees were entitled to waiting time penalties under section 203, and the complaint alleged that the medical center had violated sections 201 and 202
Finally, the PAGA letter gave sufficient notice of the rounding claim. The letter alleged that the medical center‘s rounding policy systematically underpaid employees. The attached complaint alleged that the medical center rounded the employees’ actual time worked and paid them less than they would have received if their worktime had not been rounded. And the letter and complaint identified the wage order provision and statute that the rounding policy allegedly violated—subdivision 4(A) of Wage Order 5 (
The medical center argues that Woodworth failed to submit admissible evidence that she attached a copy of her complaint to the PAGA letter. The medical center points
The medical center also argues that the court properly granted its motion because Woodworth filed her PAGA cause of action prematurely. We also reject that argument. PAGA provides that the aggrieved employee‘s action “shall commence only after” the prelawsuit requirements have been met, including the notice and waiting period requirements. (
In sum, the court erred by granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication on the PAGA cause of action. Woodworth gave sufficient notice of at least one theory of liability underlying the rest period claim. Also, her PAGA regular rate claim, PAGA wage statement claim, PAGA waiting time claim, and PAGA rounding claim remain viable, and she gave sufficient notice of those claims. Moreover, the premature filing of her first amended complaint did not defeat her PAGA cause of action. The medical center therefore was not entitled to summary adjudication on the PAGA cause of action.
VIII. Motion to Strike the PAGA Allegations
The medical center moved to strike all of the PAGA allegations from the TAC, arguing that the PAGA cause of action was unmanageable and could not be tried without violating the medical center‘s due process rights. At the time, there was no published California decision addressing whether PAGA actions are subject to a manageability requirement. The court denied the motion, reasoning that although it had discretion to grant the motion, it would not do so “in the absence of controlling California authority
In the medical center‘s cross-appeal, it argues that (1) we should impose a manageability requirement for PAGA claims and (2) Woodworth failed to demonstrate the PAGA cause of action was manageable. Although we grant Woodworth‘s motion to dismiss the cross-appeal, we consider the medical center‘s arguments. If they are meritorious, they would provide alternative grounds to affirm the erroneous rulings disposing of the PAGA claims. (See part I.B. of the discussion, ante.) We conclude, however, that the arguments lack merit.
Since the trial court‘s ruling, two appellate decisions have addressed the manageability of PAGA claims: Wesson, supra, 68 Cal.App.5th 746, and Estrada, supra, 76 Cal.App.5th 685. Wesson held that “courts have inherent authority to ensure that PAGA claims can be fairly and efficiently tried and, if necessary, may strike claims that cannot be rendered manageable.” (Wesson, at p. 756.) Estrada came to the opposite conclusion. (Estrada, at p. 697.) It held that courts “cannot strike a PAGA claim based on manageability,” but they “may still, where appropriate and within reason, limit the amount of evidence PAGA plaintiffs may introduce at trial.” (Ibid.)
Our Supreme Court is reviewing the issue and will resolve the split. In the meantime, we agree with Estrada. Trial courts may not strike a PAGA claim for lack of manageability. They may limit the evidence to be presented at trial or otherwise limit the scope of the PAGA claim, but they may not strike the claim altogether.
Estrada disagreed with Wesson for reasons that we find persuasive. First, our Supreme Court held in Arias that an aggrieved employee bringing a representative PAGA action need not satisfy class action requirements. (Arias, supra, 46 Cal.4th at p. 975; Estrada, supra, 76 Cal.App.5th at pp. 711-712.) The high court has emphasized that a PAGA action is a law enforcement action on behalf of the state and “is different from a class action.” (Kim v. Reins International California, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 73, 86; Estrada, at p. 711.) The manageability requirement in the class action context permits courts to deny class certification, in effect dismissing the class claims from the action. Permitting courts to strike or otherwise dismiss PAGA claims on manageability grounds “would effectively graft a class action requirement onto PAGA claims, undermining” Arias‘s holding that PAGA plaintiffs need not satisfy class action requirements. (Estrada, at p. 697.)
Second, permitting courts to strike or dismiss PAGA claims on the basis of “manageability would interfere with PAGA‘s express design as a law enforcement mechanism.” (Estrada, supra, 76 Cal.App.5th at p. 712.) The Legislature enacted PAGA to incentivize private parties to recover civil penalties on behalf of the overburdened state agency. (Arias, supra, 46 Cal.4th at p. 986 [Legislature‘s declared purpose in enacting PAGA was “to supplement enforcement actions by public agencies,
While Estrada held that trial courts may not strike or dismiss PAGA claims on the basis of manageability, it also held that “courts are not powerless when facing unwieldy PAGA claims.” (Estrada, supra, 76 Cal.App.5th at p. 697.) We agree with Estrada on that point as well. “[C]ourts may, where appropriate and within reason, limit witness testimony and other forms of evidence when determining the number of violations that occurred and the amount of penalties to assess. [Citations.] Consequently, in cases with individualized circumstances and vast numbers of alleged aggrieved employees, PAGA plaintiffs may have difficulty proving purported violations suffered by other employees.” (Id. at p. 713.) Like the court in Estrada, we encourage the parties to try to overcome any difficulties by “work[ing] with the trial courts . . . to define a workable group or groups of aggrieved employees for which violations can more easily be shown.” (Ibid.) For instance, the parties could agree to limit the scope of the PAGA claim by defining the aggrieved employees as those in a single department or at a single location. (Id. at p. 713, fn. 8.)
For all of these reasons, we conclude that trial courts may not strike or dismiss a PAGA claim for lack of manageability. When faced with unwieldy PAGA claims, the courts may limit the scope of the claims or the evidence to be presented at trial, but they may not prohibit PAGA plaintiffs from presenting their claims entirely. Accordingly, the medical center‘s argument that the PAGA cause of action should have been stricken as unmanageable does not provide an alternative ground to affirm the erroneous orders terminating the PAGA claims.
The medical center‘s motion for partial dismissal of the appeal is denied. Woodworth‘s motion to dismiss the cross-appeal is granted. The November 2018 order granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication on the rounding claim is reversed. On remand, the trial court shall enter a new order denying the motion for summary adjudication on the rounding claim.
The March 2019 order denying Woodworth‘s motion for class certification and denying her motion to strike the putative class members’ declarations is affirmed in part and reversed in part. To the extent that the order denied the motion to strike the putative class members’ declarations, it is affirmed. To the extent that the order denied certification of the stand-alone Wage Statement Class, it is reversed and the matter is remanded for the court to reconsider the certification motion as to that class, consistent with this opinion. The order denying the class certification motion is otherwise affirmed.
The May 2019 order granting the medical center‘s motions for summary adjudication is reversed. On remand, the trial court shall enter a new order: (1) denying the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication no. 1 as to the PAGA regular rate claim, the PAGA wage statement claim, Woodworth‘s individual wage statement claim, and the PAGA waiting time claim, but granting the motion as to Woodworth‘s individual regular rate and waiting time claims; (2) denying the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication no. 2 on the PAGA cause of action; and (3) granting the medical center‘s motion for summary adjudication no. 3 on the AWS defense.
CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION
MENETREZ J.
We concur:
MILLER Acting P. J.
FIELDS J.
Notes
The medical center argues that the trial court properly denied certification because the on-premises rest period policy was facially valid under Augustus. It does not explain why the facial validity of the policy means that class treatment is inappropriate. In any event, the medical center did not make this argument in the trial court, and the court did not base its decision on any determination about the merits of Woodworth’s on-premises theory. Given that we must review the court’s actual reasons for granting or denying certification, we decline to affirm the order on grounds not relied on by the court. (Ayala, supra, 59 Cal.4th at p. 530.)