Suit Against Restaurant Gets Boost

An Orange County judge has cleared the way for a class-action lawsuit filed by employees of Claim Jumper restaurants who contend they were improperly denied overtime wages under California law.

The lawsuit accuses the chain’s owner and operator, CWN Management Inc., of refusing to pay overtime to past and present assistant kitchen managers who have worked at Claim Jumper restaurants in California since 1998. The Irvine-based company operates 23 outlets in the state, according to a company website.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Bauer certified the suit as a class action on Sept. 30.

Workers classified as managers under California wage laws are eligible for overtime wages if they spend more than half their time on nonsupervisory tasks.

John Quisenberry, an attorney for the workers, contends his clients spent as much as 90% of their workday on non-managerial tasks and are therefore qualified to earn overtime pay. The 75 to 80 employees, he continued, are owed an estimated $4 million, not including penalties or interest, based on an average 60-hour workweek.

“They did a lot of cooking and prepping of the food,” Quisenberry said. “They are very good at what they do, but it seems to be the type of work their lead cooks are doing at the same time.”

Claim Jumper officials did not return calls for comment Monday.

Workers have hit the restaurant and retail industries with a wave of class-action overtime suits in recent years.

CKE Restaurants Inc., parent of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast-food chains, took a $7-million charge in the second quarter to settle three class-action lawsuits involving overtime pay for former and current managers in California.

Earlier this year, Big Lots Inc., one of the nation’s largest closeout retailers, said it would pay $10 million to settle claims by hundreds of California store managers who said they were improperly denied overtime. And in 2002, Starbucks Corp. agreed to pay $18 million to settle overtime claims by 1,000 managers and assistants in the state.