Bluford v Safeway Stores - Court of Appeal Orders Certification of Wage Statement Class Action
May 28, 2013
In Bluford v. Safeway Stores, Inc. (2013) __ Cal.App.4th __, the 3rd District considered an appeal from an order denying certification of a class action arising from allegations of improper payroll wage statements. Plaintiff Kenneth Bluford alleges that Safeway violated statutory and regulatory laws requiring it to provide its employees with paid rest periods, earned meal periods, and sufficiently itemized wage statements. The trial court denied the motion to certify a class, ruling that individual issues predominated over common issues on the rest period and meal period claims, and that plaintiff failed to allege a common injury resulting from the inadequate wage statements.The court of appeal reversed and remanded with instructions to enter an order granting the motion for class certification.
Insufficient evidence supports the trial court’s ruling, as common issues predominate over individual issues, and plaintiff in fact alleged a common injury resulting from the wage statements. We order the trial court to grant plaintiff’s motion.
You can download the full opinion in Bluford here in PDF or Word.