Amiri v. Cox Communications California, LLC

272 F. Supp. 3d 1187
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedSeptember 27, 2017
DocketCase No.: SACV 16-00540-CJC(RAOx)
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 272 F. Supp. 3d 1187 (Amiri v. Cox Communications California, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amiri v. Cox Communications California, LLC, 272 F. Supp. 3d 1187 (C.D. Cal. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO STRIKE PAGA REPRESENTATIVE CLAIMS

CORMAC J. CARNEY, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff Faramarz Amiri (“Plaintiff’) brings this wage and hour action against Defendant Cox Communications California, LLC (“Defendant”), alleging eight causes of action arising out of his work as a field employee, including a claim for penalties pursuant to the California Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”), California Labor Code §§ 2699, et seq. (Dkt. 37 [hereinafter “FAC”] ¶¶ 74-83.) Plaintiffs claims are based primarily on the circumstances under which he took, was allowed, and recorded breaks, including meal breaks, and on the restrictions placed upon him during intermittent weeks on-call. (See id. ¶¶ 14-22.) Before the Court is Defendant’s motion to strike Plaintiffs PAGA representative claims. (Dkt. 46 [hereinafter “Mot.”].) For the following reasons, the motion is GRANTED.1

II. BACKGROUND

Defendant Cox Communications California, LLC, is a cable, internet, and communications services provider. (FAC ¶ 14.) Defendant operates in three separate geographic markets in California: San Diego, Orange County/Rancho Palos Verdes (“Orange County”), and Santa Barbara. (Mot. at 4.) Each of these geographic areas has local management who impose different work procedures based on the relevant needs of the geographic area. (Id.) Defendant employs about 1,000 “field employees” to install, maintain, and/or service hardware and software. (FAC ¶ 15; Mot. at 2.) The different types of field employees include, but are not limited to, fiber tech, maintenance, construction, Cox Business, data and engineering, transport, network operation, and other similar functioning departments. (FAC ¶ 15.) Within each type there are two or three levels of employees who may have distinct job duties and responsibilities. (Mot. at 3; Dkt. 45-6 [Declaration of Linda Kavanagh, hereinafter “Kavanagh .Decl.”] ¶ 8.) The largest category of field employees are several hundred Universal Home Technicians (“UHTs”), who install and repair cable services in customers’ homes and businesses. (Kavanagh Decl. ¶ 6.)

Plaintiff worked as a Fiber Tech field employee for Defendant from approximately May 30, 2006, until September 18, 2015, in the Orange County market. (FAC ¶ 7; Mot. at 7.) Fiber Techs are responsible for maintaining Defendant’s fiber optic network and performing direct fiber connections to certain businesses. (Mot. at 1, 3; Dkt. 46-5 Ex. B [Deposition of Faramarz Amiri, hereinafter “Amiri Depo.”] 39:25-40:11, 40:23-25.) Only 20 other persons have worked as Fiber Techs in California since February 17, 2015, and only nine of those Fiber Techs have worked in Orange County. (Mot. at 7-8; Kavanagh Decl. ¶ 10; Dkt. 46-8 Ex. G.) Plaintiff worked a regular shift five days per week from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with a 30-minute unpaid meal period. (Amiri Depo. 37:16-38:4.) Plaintiff would come into the “office” to obtain his vehicle and clock in, but spent the majority of the work day in the- field- without any direct supervision. (Id. 82:4-25, 95:13-15, 135:22-136:17.)

Plaintiff alleges that he was often unable tó take the 30-minute off-duty meal break because (1) if in the middle of a project, he would heed 90 minutes to cléan up his work area before he could leave the area to go for lunch, (Amiri Depo. 88:6-25) and (2) an increase in orders for fiber optic cable coincided with a decrease in the Orange County Fiber Techs from bight to six Fiber Techs sometime in 2014-2015, (id. 111:12-24, 112:20-113:11, 127:14-21). Mr. Ortiz, another Fiber Tech in Orange County, denies having similar experiences during this time period, (Dkt. 46-3 [Declaration of Carlos Ortiz] at 45-48), as do Fiber Techs in other markets, (Dkt. 46-2 [Declaration of Scotty Badong ¶¶ 12-16]; Dkt. 46-4 [Declaration of Eddie Velez ¶¶ 9-12]). Other field employees also attest they consistently were able to take their meal period unless they chose to skip them, and that their managers-encourage them to take these breaks. (Mot. at 9-10 n.41.) Plaintiff concedes that Defendant had- written policies that comply with California law that establish the required paid rest period -as well as a first and second off-duty meal period. (Mot. at 4-5; Dkt. 46-7 Exs. C. D [Plaintiffs Responses to Requests for Admissions Nos. 3-5].)

Plaintiff also alleges that regardless of the department, all .field employees were required to work shifts which exceeded eight hours per day, and/or forty hours per week. (FAC ¶ 16.) Defendant allegedly failed to compensate field employees for all of the overtime and double time compensation to which they were entitled. (Id.) Defendant prohibits working off the clock as a matter of policy, (Dkt. 46-5 Ex. 14), and Plaintiff (1) was required to enter time accurately, (2) received training on Defendant's “Wage and Hour Compliance Policy,” (3) would electronically certify the accuracy of his time, and (4) was supposed to notify a manager or human resources if anything looked wrong. (Mot. at 5-6; Amiri Depo. 48:6-22, 55:23-56:15, 57:1-18, 57:9-58:11, 61:19-62:20.)

In addition to their regular work schedule, field, employees would be required to remain on-call 24 hours per day, seven days at a time (“on-call period”) approximately every four to six weeks. (FAC ¶ 17.) Defendant has a.generalized on-call policy-for California and standardizes on-call. compensation, but the policy does- not detail all on-call work procedures. (Mot. at 6.) Rather, specific procedures differ between markets and with regard to different jobs within the market. (Amiri Depo. 158:22-159:4; Kavanagh Dekt. ¶ 4; Dkt. 46-6 Ex. B-23.) For example, local management decides the rotatioh schedule for being on-call and what constitutes a reasonable time to report to an on-call assignment. (Ex. B-23.) Some departments-require employees to go into the field more often, whereas others, such as UHTs, had no on-call component of their job during Plaintiffs employment. (Amiri Depo. 68:25-69:23, 72:24-75:10; Kavanagh Decl. ¶¶ 4, 6.)

While Plaintiff worked as a Fiber Tech, six to eight Fiber Techs in the Orange County market rotated one-week periods where théy would be on call, based on a written schedule- Plaintiffs managers would provide six months or more in advance. (Amiri Depo. 159:20-24, 160:1-161:13; Dkt. 46-7 Ex. B-24.) The Fiber Techs in Orange County were permitted to and did tráde on-call periods with one another. (Id. 160:9-161:13.) Plaintiff averaged between one and two calls per on-call week, although there were some on-call weeks when he did not receive any calls. (Amiri, Depo. 163:14-19; Kavanagh Decl. ¶¶ 11-12.) Plaintiff was required to arrive at the field site within 45 minutes after getting a call. (Amiri Depo. 170:24-171:10, 182:25-183:4.) Other field employees report very different experiences from Plaintiff, ranging from construction planners who rarely go into , the field after a call, (Mot. at 11 n. 50), to employees who had more than 45 minutes to respond to a call, and some who had no defined time limit at all, (id. at 12 n.51, 52.) Other Fiber Techs, in Orange County and the other markets, report varying deadlines to respond as well as received fewer calls during on-call periods than Plaintiff. (Id. at 12-13.) Mr. Ortiz, who worked in Orange County with Plaintiff, only received a call one out of ten weeks he was on call and was told he should respond to a call within 20 minutes, but that there was no deadline for when he got to the field site. (Ortiz Decl. ¶¶ 5, 8-10.)

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Chelsea Hamilton v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
39 F.4th 575 (Ninth Circuit, 2022)
Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc.
California Court of Appeal, 2022
Wesson v. Staples the Office Superstore, LLC
California Court of Appeal, 2021
Van Bebber v. Dignity Health
E.D. California, 2021
McGuire v. 99 Cents Only Stores, LLC CA2/1
California Court of Appeal, 2021

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
272 F. Supp. 3d 1187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amiri-v-cox-communications-california-llc-cacd-2017.