Starbucks sued in class action by baristas

On May 24, 2011, a class action lawsuit was filed against Starbucks in Santa Clara Superior Court, entitled Cooper v. Starbucks Corporation, Case No. 111-CV-201544.

The complaint alleges that Starbucks, “systematically failed to record and pay [Barista’s] for minimum wages, wages for all hours worked and overtime wages,” in violation of California overtime laws.  Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Starbucks intentionally and unlawfully failed to pay the Barista’s for compensable training time which was spent reviewing, memorizing and completing Starbucks’ training materials.

Under California overtime laws, employers are required to pay employees overtime compensation for all hours worked in excess of eight hours in a single workday or forty hours in a workweek. The law requires California companies to pay hourly employees for all mandatory training time. When employees are required to take quizzes off the clock by an employer, under the state wage and hour laws, they are still entitled to receive compensation for the full amount of time it takes to complete the quiz or other training activity.

Steve Larson

An experienced trial lawyer who handles both hourly and contingent fee cases, Steve has expertise in class actions, environmental clean-up litigation, antitrust litigation, securities litigation, corporate disputes, intellectual property disputes, unfair competition claims, and disputes involving family wealth. Steve regularly represents individuals and businesses in federal and state court and has obtained class-wide recovery in multiple class actions. A veteran practitioner, Steve’s clients value his creative approach to resolving complex litigation matters.

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