Santa Clara, CA: A $1.75 million settlement has been reached in an employment class action lawsuit pending against Kraft Foods Group. The lawsuit was brought by a putative class of California employees who allege the food company failed to adequately compensate them for missed meal and rest breaks.
The settlement, subject to court approval, would place about $1.13 million of the award aside for the class, $13,000 will pay for settlement administration, $10,000 will be awarded to the class representative, about $583,000 will go to attorneys' fees, up to $15,000 will pay for costs and $7,500 will pay a penalty under the Private Attorneys General Act.
The class consists of about 1,239 members who are or were employed by Kraft Foods from June 5, 2010 to a future date when the judge grants preliminary approval, court documents state.
The lawsuit was filed by Jose Rodriguez in July 2014 alleging the company failed to pay hourly production employees wages for missed 30-minute, duty-free meal breaks before the end of their fifth hour of their shift. Further, Kraft also failed to pay class members one additional hour of pay for each duty-free meal and rest period not provided, the complaint states.
In the complaint, Rodriguez states he worked at Kraft as an hourly production employee until August 2013. During that time, he alleges Kraft failed to pay him and others similarly situated, all wages owed in a timely way when employees left the company, failed to provide accurate itemized wage statements and maintain pay records, and failed to pay all owed wages on designated regular paydays to its hourly production employees, violating California labor law.
The lawsuit also states that Kraft willfully failed to pay wages to employees who quit or were fired when payable by state law, and, as a penalty, owes wages for up to 30 days from the date they were due.
Rodriguez further alleges that Kraft' violations of state labor laws also constitute unlawful and fraudulent business practices.
The case is Rodriguez v. Kraft Foods Group Inc., case number 1:14-cv-01137, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
