LOS ANGELES -- Dollar Tree stores have been cleared of wrongdoing in federal court when a jury sided with the store in a class action regarding employee access to electronic wage statements (pay stubs).
Plaintiff Francisca Guillen alleged in the lawsuit that as a worker at Dollar Tree Stores Inc. she and other class members did not have easy access to electronic wage statements. Workers who were paid by direct deposit were able to print off electronic wage statements at the cash registers in the stores.
Dollar Tree aargued that printing pay stubs at the cash register was a way to assist employees who didn’t have computers at home and who wanted to print off their pay stubs. Plaintiffs alleged the system exposed other employees and customers to their confidential pay information.
The class action was initially filed as a broader wage and hour lawsuit.
The jury in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California was asked if Dollar Tree violated California law between April 2014, and August 2017, in providing wage statements to members of the 5,400 retail Dollar Tree employees in the class. The jury was also asked to consider a number of questions, including: Did Guillen and the class not retain easy access to their electronic wage statements? Was Dollar Tree's failure to provide easy access to electronic wage statements knowing and intentional? Did Guillen and each class member suffer a resulting injury?
The class was certified in February by Judge Michael Fitzgerald and the case was filed in the Central District of California. The class covered anyone working at Dollar Tree on or after April 2, 2014, and who was paid by direct deposit or a pay card. Class members could not have entered into an arbitration agreement with the store.
An attorney for Dollar Tree did not respond to requests for interview.
Matthew J. Matern, Mikael H. Stahle and Joshua D. Boxer of Matern Law Group PC represented the plaintiffs and the class. Attorneys Elena R. Baca of Paul Hastings LLP and Lindbergh Porter of Littler Mendelson PC represented Dollar Tree Stores Inc.