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JUDICIAL UPDATES Denial of Motion to Certify Class of Grocery Store Managers Was Proper Because the Work of the Managers Varied Significantly Wage & hour class actions are rampant in California. Certification of a case as a class action may occur only when a court determines that common questions of law or fact among the potential class members are so predominant over individual questions that there is a sufficient “community of interest” among class members to justify treatment of the case as a class action. In Dunbar v. Albertson’s, Inc. (Court of Appeal Case No. A111153), Dunbar, a grocery manager for Albertson’s, claimed that he was erroneously classified as being under the executive exemption from overtime, and that Albertson’s owed him overtime compensation. The plaintiff sought to certify a class of approximately 900 similarly-situated grocery managers. In support of his motion for that purpose, the plaintiff filed over 60 declarations from grocery managers stating that the great majority of their work time was spent on tasks that they characterized as non-managerial. In response, the company submitted the declarations of nearly 80 grocery managers (including some managers who had signed declarations on behalf of the plaintiff), along with portions of deposition testimony from the plaintiff’s declarants. The plaintiff’s main position was that the common issue of whether the grocery managers’ different tasks were exempt or non-exempt would predominate the analysis, justifying class action treatment. On the other hand, Albertson’s argued that individualized issues of liability and damages – that is, determining which tasks each manager performed and for how long – would predominate, in light of the variation of the work of the different managers, as evidenced by the declarations and deposition testimony submitted by the defendant. The trial court denied the motion for certification, and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision. The court rejected the plaintiff’s contention that the grocery store’s classification of grocery managers as “executive” positions reflected a single policy decision that affected hundreds of employees and was determinative of the issue of class treatment. Instead, the court believed that the job titles and descriptions were not a controlling factor. More important were the facts that store operations vary depending on size, hours, and location, and the proportion of time spent on grocery managers’ various tasks depended upon a wide variety of factors. For larger companies facing potentially large class, defeating certification is essential. Working with counsel to identify the relevant facts and issues is an important part of defending against wage & hour class actions. NEXT: Unlicensed Roofer Was Employee for Purposes of Tort Liability
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