SAN DIEGO — Zales Delaware Inc. is facing a potential class action wage and overtime pay lawsuit in California federal court. In the lawsuit, a former employee is claiming the jewelry giant intentionally altered timecards in an effort to avoid paying its employees the overtime wages to which they were entitled. The jewelry chain employees allege the company violated California labor law and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and are seeking to include around 20,000 current and former employees who have worked for the company in the last three years. Zales denies it violated any labor laws.
Claim Against Zales
A former Zales employee, Naomi Tapia, filed the lawsuit claiming each of the company’s locations use the same policies, practices, and systems with employee timekeeping and payroll. Because the company uses the same systems at all of its locations, Tapia believes the alleged violations affected employees at each of the locations and a class action will properly address the claims of most, if not all, of the employees affected. Tapia will have to provide enough evidence to the court that the company actually does use the same system at each of its locations before the class can be certified and opened to all potential class members.
According to Tapia’s claim, the jewelry store uses a timekeeping system that rounds down, or shaves, employees’ times. This practice reduces the amount of time employees are credited and potentially prevents employees from receiving overtime wages when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek. In fact, Tapia claims that not only did she not receive overtime when she worked more than 40 hours in a week, she would regularly be denied her duty-free, uninterrupted 30-minute meal break, yet her timecard would reflect that she received and took her meal break. By allegedly recording that Tapia took a 30-minute meal break when she did not, Tapia was essentially working off the clock which violates state and federal laws. And Tapia was denied an additional 30 minutes of pay each time it occurred. If the same practices and time system was used at all of Zales’ locations, then it is likely more employees were denied compensation for all of the hours they worked.
If your employer denies you the meal breaks to which you are entitled or requires you to work off the clock and fails to pay overtime, you may have a wage or overtime pay claim. Time is limited for filing wage and overtime complaints so it is important to call today! Our knowledgeable team of overtime pay lawyers can be reached at (855) 754-2795. Or you may complete our Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form and our skilled legal team will evaluate your claim. 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.