LOS ANGELES — A beauty supply retailer, Planet Beauty Inc., in California is facing a potential class action overtime pay lawsuit in California state court. According to the lawsuit, Planet Beauty Inc. violated California labor laws when it incorrectly calculated its employees’ overtime wages. The plaintiffs are seeking both back pay for unpaid overtime wages and compensation for denied meal and rest breaks.
The Beauty Store Claim
The lawsuit, filed in December 2014, alleges that Planet Beauty failed to include all of its retail store employees’ wages when calculating overtime pay. Planet Beauty and Beena Beauty Holding, Inc., an associated beauty company, paid the hourly employees at their California locations an hourly wage along with commissions for the sales they made each day. The companies, however, allegedly did not include the commission wages with the hourly wages when calculating overtime for its employees. Because the employees’ commissioned wages were not included, the hourly employees’ overtime rate was less than they were entitled and they were subsequently denied proper overtime wages.
In addition to miscalculating overtime pay, the company’s employees were allegedly denied meal and rest periods in violation of California labor law. In the claim, Planet Beauty is said to not have a policy that provided uninterrupted, duty-free 30 minute meal breaks. The lack of policy allegedly resulted in employees not receiving their meal breaks before the fifth hour of work, which is required under California labor law. Because the employees were allegedly denied meal breaks before the fifth hour of their shift, they are entitled additional compensation as a penalty to the employer for violating the law.
Calculating Overtime Wages
When an employer calculates an employee’s overtime rate and subsequent overtime wages, many factors must be considered. The employer must first determine the employee’s regular rate of pay. The regular rate of pay for many hourly employees is their hourly rate. However, if an employee receives other forms of compensation, like commissions, the employer must typically include those wages with the employee’s hourly rate to determine the regular rate.
Once the regular rate of pay is determined, the employer is required to provide at least one and a half times that regular rate for all of the time an employee works over 40 hours in a workweek. If an employee works through or is not provided with a 30 minutes of uninterrupted, duty-free meal break when they are entitled to one, that 30-minute period should be included in the total hours an employee works.
If you are an hourly employee, whether you receive commissions or not, and your employer has failed to provide proper wages or denies you the meal breaks to which you are entitled, call our experienced team of overtime pay lawyers today. Our knowledgeable legal team can be reached at (855) 754-2795 or by completing our Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form. If we accept your case, we will represent you under our No Fee Promise. This means there are no legal fees or costs unless you receive a settlement.