San Francisco, CA: Former employees of Smith & Nephew now have the opportunity to join an employment class action lawsuit against the company for allegedly implementing an unlawful Use it or Lose it Employee Vacation Pay Policy. Lardner v. Smith & Nephew was originally filed on October 12, 2011 and is currently pending in Alameda Superior Court.
According to the complaint, the class action lawsuit filed against Smith & Nephew consists of "all those persons employed by Smith & Nephew, Inc., in California, who earned vested vacation pay and whose employment terminated" within the past 4 years.
The complaint specifically alleges that even though employees earned and accrued vacation time during their employment at the company, Smith & Nephew utilized an illegal scheme to avoid paying out the vacation time earned at the time of employment termination. Under the California Labor Code, all earned and accrued vacation time must be paid out at the time that the employment terminates.
