A class action lawsuit accuses Blue Bottle Coffee of shorting its workers' overtime and other wages, among other accusations of violating California labor law.
Employees "were not paid overtime wages because they were misclassified as exempt, did not receive legally compliant meal and rest breaks, and were not paid at their regular rate for their sick time pursuant to Defendant’s policies and/or practices," says the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court.
Even though the plaintiffs were classified by the company as exempt from overtime pay rules, they "were regularly scheduled, as a matter of uniform company policy, to work, and in fact, worked as salaried employees in excess of eight hours per workday and/or in excess of 40 hours per work week without receiving straight time or overtime compensation for such overtime hours."
Misclassifying the plaintiffs as exempt also caused the company allegedly to deny them meal breaks and rest breaks as required by California law, the lawsuit states.
"When Defendant did pay meal or rest period premium wages, Class Members were only paid at the employee’s base hourly rate rather than their regular rate," the complaint said.
The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages and penalties, plus legal fees.
They are represented by attorneys Edward J. Wynne and George Nemiroff, of Wynne Law Group, of Larkspur; and Gregg I. Shavitz and Camar Jones, of Shavitz Law Group, of Boca Raton, Florida.
Greely v. Blue Bottle Coffee, San Francisco Superior Court, CGC-23-610084