SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) – The California 4th Appellate District Court of Appeal, Division One affirmed a trial court’s judgment in a certified wage and hour class action suit, concluding that the plaintiffs’ arguments lack merit.
“All time on the clock is directly and expressly compensated by Certified Tire at an hourly rate that exceeds the minimum wage,” said Associate Judge Joan Irion in the Sept. 18 filing, which was certified for publication on Oct. 4. “We reject the plaintiffs’ argument that Certified Tire must make a separate additional payment to the technician to comply with the minimum wage and rest period requirements.”
At the trial court level, a bench trial held in favor of the defendants in December 2016.
Defendant Certified Tire and Service Inc. and Barrett Business Services Inc. were alleged to have violated minimum wage and rest requirements “by implementing a compensation program, which guaranteed its automotive technicians a specific hourly wage above the minimum wage for all hours worked during each pay period," the ruling states.
The productivity incentive, called the Technician Compensation Program (TCP), however, gave the employees the possibility of earing a “higher hourly wage” for their hours worked during each pay period, which were based on “certain productivity measures,” the ruling states.
"Certified Tire’s president had testified that he had designed the TCP program to incentivize technicians ‘to hustle’ to get things done, and to make Certified Tire a more competitive employer in the industry 'by allowing technicians to significantly increase their hourly compensation based on their efficiency without any cap on the amount of compensation,'” the ruling states.
"According to the Certified Tire’s president, some technicians 'achieve a base hourly rate of up to $70 per hour during a pay period,'” the ruling states.
The appeal was based on multiple wage and hour class action lawsuits that were filed against Certified tire and Barrett in a Riverside County and San Diego County Superior Courts by Oscar Gutierrez, Pascal Jeandebien and Michael Rehse.
California Court of Appeal, 4th Appellate District Division One case number D072265