LOS ANGELES– Toys R Us recently settled a class action lawsuit over meal break, minimum wage, and overtime laws violations in California for $4 million. The lawsuit alleges California Toy R Us employees were denied meal and rest breaks in violation of California law. Additionally, employees were required to submit to security inspections off the clock and were not paid proper wages for the hours they worked. These violations affected the number of “hours worked” that appeared on employee’s time cards and denied them overtime pay.
The initial lawsuits, which were later consolidated into a class action, came from two long-time Toys R Us sales and cashier workers. The resulting class contains nearly 39,000 current and former employees working at numerous Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores in California. As part of the settlement, Toys R Us will change its policies to reflect California’s meal break laws and provide better training to its managers and supervisors regarding breaks. The company will also make security inspections a part of on-the-clock activity, so employees will be paid for the time they are required to remain on premises during the inspections.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require employers to provide rest or meal breaks. The FLSA does require employers to pay employees during any short (less than 20 minutes) rest break that is provided and count that break time towards any overtime owed. Meal breaks, on the other hand, are not required to be paid, should an employer decide to offer them to employees.
Fortunately, many states, like California, require employers to provide a meal break of at least 30 minutes to employees working more than five hours per day. However, even under state laws, employers are generally not required to pay their employees during their meal breaks or count the time toward overtime. But in some instances, such as if an employee is required to remain on site during the meal break, then, under California law, the employer has to count the meal break as hours worked, pay the employee for the time, and count it towards overtime.
Time counted towards overtime means that the time is considered part of the “hours worked” that appear on your pay stub. Generally, employees with more than 40 “hours worked” during a seven-day workweek are eligible for overtime, time-and-a-half, for any additional “hours worked” during the period.
If you or someone you know works as a sales or retail team member and you believe you have a claim for overtime wages, call (855) 754-2795 or complete the Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form on the top right of this page. Our experienced team of overtime pay lawyers will evaluate your situation to determine if you can file a claim. If you are owed overtime wages, we can represent you under our No Fee Promise, which means there are never any legal fees or costs unless you receive a settlement.