A class action lawsuit accuses Texas-based aviation services provider Primeflight of shorting its workers pay, allegedly in violation of labor law.
"Plaintiff and similarly situated hourly non-exempt employees worked more minutes per shift than Defendants credited them with having worked," said the complaint filed in San Francisco County Superior Court.
Primeflight required the employees to undergo security checks before they clocked in including "scanning badges, emptying pockets, pat downs, and hand smears," the suit says. These were required at the start of each shift and after clocking out meal breaks, before clocking back in after meal breaks and after clocking out at the end of their shifts, according to the lawsuit.
The company also required employees to respond to calls and messages on their cells phones after clocking out, the employees claim. Also, employees were required to watch training videos and tutorials at home.
"Therefore, Defendants suffered, permitted, and required their hourly non-exempt employees to be subject to Defendants’ control without paying wages for that time," the suit says. "This resulted in Plaintiff and similarly situated employees working time for which they were not compensated any wages."
The lawsuit alleges that the company also failed to provide employees with meal breaks that are legally required under California law for shifts lasting longer than five hours or 10 hours.
"Employees worked shifts long enough to entitle them to meal periods under California law," the suit says. "Nevertheless, Defendants employed policies, practices, and/or procedures that resulted in their failure to authorize or permit duty-free meal periods to Plaintiff and similarly situated employees of no less than 30 minutes for each five-hour period of work as required by law and/or discouraging off-premises meal breaks."
Primeflight also required employees to purchase protective gear such as hearing aids, gloves, and steel toed boots without reimbursement, the plaintiffs allege.
The lawsuit seek damages, back pay and legal costs and any legally permitted penalties.
The plantiffs are represented by attorneys Joseph Lavi, Vincent C. Granberry and Elizabeth Harrier of Lavi & Ebrahimian.
Brunner v. Primeflight Aviation Services Inc. San Francisco Superior Court, CGC-23-608535.