Pizza chain gets hit with another unpaid overtime suit.SAME pizza, different toppings. Less than two months after a judge finalized See finalization. a $1.3 million settlement paid by California Pizza Kitchen California Pizza Kitchen (NASDAQ: CPKI, known within the food industry as CPK) is a casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza. The restaurant was started in 1985 by attorneys Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax in Beverly Hills, California, Inc. to its former restaurant employees, an accountant for the Los Angeles-based chain has filed a proposed class action in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Superior Court, alleging similar wage claims. Latonya Lindsey, a "non-certified accountant" who receives a salary at the company, claims she works 10 to 12 hours a day without overtime to meet "unrealistic deadlines" that force her to go "without rest periods and/or meal periods," according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the suit, which does not specify how much she is seeking in damages. Lindsey is suing on behalf of all non-certified accountants who worked for California Pizza Kitchen in the past four years. The litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. comes after a judge in Orange County Superior Court approved the $1.3 million settlement in a separate class action suit filed by the chain's former food servers, bus staff, runners, bartenders and other restaurant employees who alleged they were denied rest and meal periods. In that case, "we believe that all of our employees were provided with the opportunity to take all required meal and rest breaks," the company said in its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. However, the filing added, "if the plaintiff were able to achieve class certification and prevail on the merits on the merits adj. referring to a judgment, decision or ruling of a court based upon the facts presented in evidence and the law applied to that evidence. A judge decides a case "on the merits" when he/she bases the decision on the fundamental issues and considers of the case, we could potentially be liable for significant amounts." In the more recent case, California Pizza Kitchen declined to comment until its executives had a chance to review the suit, said restaurant spokeswoman Erin Murphy Erin Margaret Murphy (June 17, 1964) is an actress who was born in Encino, California, and is best known for her role as Tabitha Stephens on the top-ten television sitcom Bewitched, which ran from 1964-1972. . Douglas Linde, a lawyer for Lindsey, said his client left California Pizza Kitchen's corporate headquarters in May. Linde said a non-certified accountant is someone "who works in the accounting department inputting numbers into corporate spreadsheets, but is not a certified accountant. A lot of companies are using them in order to save costs, but they need to realize they need to pay these people as well." He said companies have been split on whether to classify their non-certified accountants as exempt from overtime. But California regulations specify that professionals must be certified to be exempt, he said. Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225, or at abronstad@labusinessjournal.com. |
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