Former California McDonald’s Employee Files a Wage and Hour Class Action

A former McDonald’s employee, Elisa Alvarez, filed a California Class Action alleging wage and hour violations. 

The Case: Elisa Alvarez v. SLO Arches, Ivernia, and Golden Seneca (collectively “McDonald’s”)

The Court: San Luis Obispo County Superior Court of the State of California

The Case No.: 21CV-0533

The Plaintiff: Elisa Alvarez v. SLO Arches, Ivernia, and Golden Seneca (collectively “McDonald’s”)

The plaintiff, Elisa Alvarez is a former employee of the defendant. According to the lawsuit, Alvarez was employed as a non-exempt employee from March 2017 to March 2019 and received her last paycheck from the Defendant in March 2021. Alvarez was paid on an hourly basis, and was allegedly entitled to meal and rest periods, minimum wage, reporting time pay, and overtime wages as required by employment law. The plaintiff brings the Class Action on behalf of herself and on behalf of all individuals

who are or were previously employed by the Defendant as non-exempt employees during the time period beginning four years preceding the date of the filing of the Complaint and ending on the date determined by the court to define the Class Period. The aggregate claim of California class members is under $5 million. The plaintiff reserved the right to amend class definitions before the Court determines if class certification is appropriate. 

The Defendant: Elisa Alvarez v. SLO Arches, Ivernia, and Golden Seneca (collectively “McDonald’s”)

The defendant in the case, SLO Arches, Ivernia, and Golden Seneca

Details About the Case: Elisa Alvarez v. SLO Arches, Ivernia, and Golden Seneca (collectively “McDonald’s”)

The plaintiff filed a class action complaint against SLO Arches, Inc. ("SLO Arches"), Ivernia, Incorporated ("Ivernia"), and Golden Seneca, Inc. ("Golden Seneca") (collectively, "McDonald's"), McDonald's franchisees. According to the lawsuit, the Defendant failed to provide employees with legally compliant meal and rest periods, failed to pay overtime wages, failed to pay minimum wage, failed to provide required meal and rest periods, failed to reimburse for required business expenses, failed to provide accurate itemized wage statements, and failed to provide wages when due. According to California employment law, employers must pay employees no less than the applicable minimum wage for all hours worked in each payroll period. Hours worked is legally defined as “the time during which an employee is subject to the control of an employer and includes all the time the employee is suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so.” Allegedly, McDonald's required employees to complete work before and after their scheduled shifts, and during the employees’ off-duty breaks. According to the lawsuit, McDonald's failed to compensate its employees for any of the time spent under the employer's control while working off-the-clock before and after their shifts as well as during breaks. Based on these allegations, McDonald’s failed to provide their employees with applicable minimum wage for the complete number of hours they worked.

If you have questions about California employment law or if you need to file a wage and hour lawsuit, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.