A former employee has taken legal action against a prominent property management company, alleging significant labor law violations. Lisa Perez filed a class-action complaint on April 16, 2025, in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, against HRI Properties, LLC. The lawsuit accuses the company of failing to pay overtime wages and provide proper meal and rest breaks among other grievances.
The complaint details a series of alleged violations by HRI Properties, LLC that affected Perez and other non-exempt employees similarly situated. According to the filing, Perez worked as a Front Desk Agent since August 4, 2021. She claims that HRI Properties did not properly calculate overtime wages due to their failure to include all forms of compensation in determining the "regular rate of pay." This includes shift differential pay and bonuses which are required by law to be part of such calculations. Furthermore, Perez alleges that the company's policies prevented employees from taking timely meal and rest periods as mandated by California law. "Defendant's meal period policies/practices failed to allow and permit non-exempt employees to take all compliant and timely meal and rest periods," states the complaint.
In addition to wage-related issues, Perez accuses HRI Properties of failing to reimburse necessary business expenses incurred by employees during their work duties. This includes costs associated with using personal cell phones for business purposes—a violation under Labor Code §§ 2802-2804 according to the plaintiff. Moreover, she claims that wage statements provided were inaccurate and lacked essential information like gross wages earned and total hours worked.
Perez is seeking various forms of relief from the court including unpaid wages, restitution for missed breaks, penalties for inaccurate wage statements, reimbursement for business expenses not covered by the employer, as well as attorney fees. The lawsuit highlights systemic issues within HRI Properties' employment practices affecting numerous current or former non-exempt hourly employees across California over recent years.
Representing Lisa Perez are attorneys Joshua S. Falakassa from Falakassa Law P.C., and Mehrdad Bokhour from Bokhour Law Group P.C., both based in Los Angeles. The case is presided over by Judge M. Arechiga under Case ID #25CV463853.