A representative action lawsuit on behalf of workers accuses California Pizza Kitchen of shorting workers' wages and other alleged violations of California labor law.
"Defendants implemented uniform policies and practices that deprived Plaintiff and Class Members of earned wages, including minimum wages; straight time wages; overtime wages, premium wages; lawful meal and/or rest breaks; reimbursement for necessary expenses; reporting time wages; and timely payment of wages," says the suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court.
Workers were not paid all the tips they earned, and "there was not a fair and reasonable distribution of tips from the pool as required by law," the suit says.
The company allegedly "engaged in systemic time-shaving and changed employee time clock records to deduct time from hours worked, frequently for non-provided meal periods, and underpaid employees," the suit alleges.
Employees were required to work more than five hours without meal breaks, the suit says.
"Although meal periods were not lawfully provided to Plaintiff and Class Members, Defendant had a policy and procedure of auto-deducting 30-minutes from Plaintiff and Class Members earned hours," says the lawsuit.
The complaint seeks back wages owed, damages and penalties.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys James R. Hawkins and Christina M. Lucio, of James Hawkins APLC, of Irvine.
Hockenson v. California Pizza Kitchen, Inc. San Francisco County Superior Court, CGC-23-609578.