Appellate Court Affirms Denial Of Class Certification of Restaurant Managers

April 12, 2010

By Garrett Jensen

Plaintiffs; in seeking class certification of three subclasses of employees:  kitchen managers or chefs; department managers, and general managers; were required to show that questions of law or fact common to the class predominated over questions affecting the individual members, i.e. misclassification was the rule rather than the exception.  Plaintiffs presented evidence the putative class members had been misclassified in that they spent a majority of their workday doing non-exempt work, did not exercise discretion as to restaurant operations, and were required to follow company policy and procedure as to virtually every aspect of their jobs.  While Plaintiffs contended these conditions did not vary from one location to another, the trial court placed greater weight on defendants' evidence that managers' job duties and the time spent on particular tasks varied widely based on the location.  The trial court, in holding plaintiffs' theory of recovery was not susceptible to common proof, concluded there was insufficient evidence of widespread misclassification, and the appellate court affirmed.

Despite the decision, employers need to be aware that classification of employees based solely on job description, rather than on duties performed, will leave employers open to individual and class action lawsuits.