Wage Law

The Supreme Court will neither review nor publish the opinion in Gonzalez v. Western Pacific Roofing Corp. (2008) Case Number S162086. The Court of Appeal has reversed the sustaining of a demurrer in a Los Angeles County Superior Court class action case in which the Plaintiffs alleged they were not paid the correct wages in public works projects.

They set forth the hourly rate they were paid and the minimum wage they should have been paid. Their claims are on behalf of themselves and for others. Thus, the action is a class action. We hold that plaintiffs for themselves stated facts sufficient to state a cause of action with respect to each of the alleged causes of action, and that the validity of the class action allegations should await determination in a certification proceeding. Therefore, we reverse the judgment entered pursuant to a court order sustaining a demurrer.

The case had a good overview of prevailing wage law in California, and what it takes to plead such a case.

In general, publicly financed construction projects are governed by the prevailing wage law. (Lab. Code, §§ 90.5, 1720-1861; see Lusardi Construction Co. v. Aubry (1992) 1 Cal.4th 976, 985-988.) With certain exceptions, a contractor on a public works project must pay workers "not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a similar character in the locality in which the public work is performed." (Lab. Code, § 1771.) The Department of Industrial Relations ("DIR") is responsible for determining that wage for each "craft, classification, or type of worker." (Lab. Code, §§ 1770, 1773; Cal.Code Regs., tit. 8, § 16200; Pipe Trades Dist. Council No. 51 v. Aubry (1996) 41 Cal.App.4th 1457, 1466-1467.)

Plaintiffs allege the following: plaintiffs are sheet metal workers formerly employed by defendants to work on public works projects; the legal minimum wage for workers employed on California public works projects is known as the general prevailing rate of per diem wages (Lab. Code, § 1771) or the "prevailing wage"; the proper prevailing wage classification for plaintiffs, defined by the actual work they performed on the public works, is sheet metal worker, and defendants were required to pay plaintiffs the prevailing wage for such workers as published by the DIR; the two defendants are in reality a single company owned and operated by the same owner, with a common place of business, common management, common policies and procedures and common employees; plaintiffs would routinely receive paychecks from either company, without explanation, although their supervisors and managers remained the same; the defendants employed hundreds of workers on public works projects throughout California; as a matter of common company policy, defendants did not pay prevailing wages and other wages--overtime, travel time and subsistence--to the individual plaintiffs or to hundreds of other workers who were employed by public works projects; each plaintiff, as an individual, is owed back wages for work performed for defendants on California public works; in addition to their individual claims, plaintiffs seek to represent the claims of all other current and former employees of defendants who were subject to the common policy to deny workers their lawfully earned wages. The subclasses are for each defendant and for each type of compensation due.

Plaintiffs specifically alleged the two defendants are, in fact, the same entity; they were employed by the defendants, and worked on, one or more public works projects, including but not limited to 25 specifically identified projects; the hourly wage that they each were paid; and the prevailing hourly wage that the defendants were required by law and contract to pay them.

Specifically, plaintiffs alleged they were sheet metal workers. They alleged that the work they performed was that of a sheet metal worker, and they alleged the specific work they performed. They alleged that instead of the $39 to $46 per hour rate required by California law, they received as low as $11 per hour. They also alleged that defendants failed to pay overtime at all or travel time and subsistence pay, all required by law. They set forth the dates each of the named plaintiffs worked and the specific hourly rate each received. They listed all of the various projects on which one or more of the plaintiffs worked.

Plaintiffs set forth the prevailing wage for straight time, overtime, and Sunday and holiday work for sheet metal workers for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005. The rates begin at $39.76 per hour (straight time wage for 2001-2002) and top out at $ 78.84 per hour for Sunday and holiday overtime in 2005. The allegations are that Gonzalez and Sanchez were paid approximately $11.50 per hour, Alcantar approximately $20.00 per hour during the last four years of his employment, Allen approximately $ 14 per hour, and Smith approximately $11 per hour during the last four years of his employment. Plaintiffs alleged that they were paid less than required prevailing wage for holiday and overtime work and travel time, and that they were not paid overtime, travel time, or required subsistence at all. They alleged that defendants required them to work "excessive hours of overtime."

The prevailing wage law requires a contractor to keep records, verified under penalty of perjury, showing "the name, address, social security number, work classification, straight time and overtime hours worked each day and week, and the actual per diem wages paid" for each employee on a public works project. (Lab. Code, § 1776.)

Plaintiffs are required only to set forth the essential facts of their case with reasonable precision and with particularity sufficient to acquaint a defendant with the nature, source and extent of his cause of action. (Youngman v. Nevada Irrigation Dist., supra, 70 Cal.2d at p. 245.) Plaintiffs are not required to plead the specific amount of damages. (Furia v. Helm (2003) 111 Cal.App.4th 945, 957.)

The amount of unpaid wages due to each plaintiff is only a matter of proof (the number of hours worked on public works projects multiplied by the difference between the lawful wage and the wages actually paid). The amount of waiting time penalties under section 203 is also a simple matter of proof; the penalty is the amount of unpaid wages for a 30-day period. (Lab. Code, § 203.) Defendants should have full and complete records dealing with this subject. "Once an employee shows that he performed work for which he was not paid, the fact of damage is certain; the only uncertainty is the amount of damage. [Citations.] In such a case, it would be a perversion of justice to deny all relief to the injured person, thereby relieving the wrongdoer from making any restitution for his wrongful act. [Citation.]" (Hernandez v. Mendoza (1988) 199 Cal.App.3d 721, 726-727.)

We thought that last part would have made the case worthy of publication.