The owners of San Francisco's Waterfront Restaurant have been hit with a representative action lawsuit, accusing them of shorting workers' pay and other violations of California labor law.
Bundox Restaurant Corp. "requires plaintiff to work while clocked out during what is supposed to be plaintiff's off-duty meal break," says the lawsuit by plaintiff Savita Jayram, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court. "Defendant, as a matter of established company policy and procedure, administers a uniform practice of rounding the actual time worked and recorded by plaintiff and aggrieved employees, always to the benefit of defendant, so that during the course of their employment, plaintiff and the aggrieved employees are paid less than they would have been paid had they been paid for actual recorded time rather than 'rounded' time."
The company also allegedly failed to reimburse employees for required business expenses, the suit says. Employees were also required to use their personal cell phones for business, it says.
The suit seeks civil penalties as prescribed under California law, plus attorney fees.
The lawsuit was filed under California's controversial Private Attorney General Act, which generally empowers individual workers to stand in place of the state of California in lawsuits accusing employers of labor law violations. Critics say the law amounts to a payday for lawyers, while generating few real benefits for workers.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Norman B. Blumenthal, Kyle R. Nordrehaug and Nicholas J. De Blouw, of Blumenthal, Nordrehaug, Bhowmik, De Blouw LLP, of La Jolla.
Jayram v. Bundox Restaurant Corp., San Francisco Superior Court, CGC-23-610167