Los Angeles, CA: The Los Angeles Clippers are facing an wage and hour class action lawsuit filed by a former employee who claims the basketball team and its owner Donald Sterling, misclassified him and other unpaid interns in an effort to reduce labor costs. These actions, the lawsuit claims, are in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and California labor law.
Filed by named plaintiff, Frank Cooper, who worked in fan relations, the lawsuit states that Cooper and all those similarly situated were required to do the same work as paid employees but without financial compensation.
"Plaintiff' unpaid work for defendants is part of a broader trend where employees are being misclassified as unpaid 'interns' in an effort by employers to avoid paying wages as required by state laws and FLSA,"the lawsuit states. "These programs purport to be training programs, but provide little value to the worker while enriching the employer through the provision of free labor."
The lawsuit is seeking certification of FLSA and California Labor Law subclasses of interns who were unpaid for their work from September 28, 2012, through to the present. He seeks unpaid minimum wages, damages, restitution and an accounting of the Clippers' records for the liability period, among other things.
According to the complaint, Cooper worked for the Clippers for nearly two months in 2012, during which time his duties included organizing basketball clinics for fans and camps for children, supervising autograph sessions with players and performing office work such as distributing gifts and prizes and mailing season tickets, among other similar tasks. All of these tasks were similar to those paid employees performed, Cooper alleges.
Although Cooper and other interns did not have a set work schedule, they allege they worked between 40 and 50 hours per week. While their positions were considered part of a vocational training program by the front office, Cooper and others allege they were performing tasks recognized as actual work under federal and state labor laws.
According to the lawsuit, without the contributions of Coopers and others similarly situated, the Clippers would have had to hire additional employees or require current staff to work additional hours.
"The employer cannot derive any immediate advantage from the intern' work or require the intern to do the work of regular employees,"the lawsuit states. "Defendants' failure to pay interns for years runs afoul of basic wage-and-hour laws."
The case is Frank Cooper v. LAC Basketball Club Inc. and The Sterling Family Trust, case number 2:14-cv-04445, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Cooper is represented by Nicholas Ranallo of Nicholas Ranallo Law Offices and Maurice Pianko of the Pianko Law Group PLLC.
