McKenzie v. Federal Express Corp.

275 F.R.D. 290, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65278, 2011 WL 2455510
District Court, C.D. California·Decided June 16, 2011·No. No. CV 10-02420 GAF (PLAx)·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER REGARDING MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

GARY ALLEN FEESS, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff LaMecia McKenzie (“McKenzie”), a former hourly employee of Defendant Federal Express Corporation (“FedEx”), moves for class certification of a California Labor Code section 226(a)(2), (a)(6) and (a)(9) claim alleging defects in wage and hour statements periodically provided to FedEx employees. McKenzie contends, inter alia, that the requirements of a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) class have been met because “questions of law or fact common to class members predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy.”

FedEx opposes the motion. FedEx attacks the motion on every one of the Rule 23 elements. Most significantly, FedEx argues that, because an individual determination of injury must be conducted pursuant to California Labor Code section 226(e), individual inquiries predominate over the common legal and factual issues in this case. The Court disagrees. First, the Court is persuaded that the Rule 23(a) factors are easily established in this case. Thousands of employees received periodic wage statements that all contained the identical defects identified by McKenzie. Numerosity, commonality and typicality are readily met. Moreover, the Court is persuaded that the injury requirement of section 226(e) is subject to common proof, which supports McKenzie’s assertion that common questions of fact and law are predominant. In short, because McKenzie has established the elements of a Rule 23(b)(3) class, the Court GRANTS McKenzie’s certification motion. The Court explains its reasoning in greater detail below.

II. BACKGROUND

A. FedEx’s Wage Statements

From April 1993 to July of 2009, McKenzie worked as a truck driver for FedEx and was classified as an hourly employee. (Mem., McKenzie Deck ¶2.) During the course of her employment, McKenzie, along with other hourly employees, received wage statements on a weekly basis which listed three categories of earnings: (1) “OvrTimePrm,” (2) “Overtime,” and (3) “Reg Earn.” (See, e.g., id., Ex. 1 [Wage Statement].) With respect to the hours included in the pay period, the wage statements did not provide a separate category calculating the total hours worked by McKenzie. (Id.) Rather, these state-' ments listed the number of hours worked at the regular rate of pay, and stated the number of overtime hours under both the “Overtime” and “OvrTimePrm” categories. (Id.) For example, one of McKenzie’s wage statements provided that she worked a total of 35.53 hours at “Reg Earn” rate, and listed 2.28 hours twice under the “Overtime” and “OvrTimePrm” rates of pay. (Id.) If an employee sought to calculate the total number of hours worked during a pay period, they would have to add the hours listed under the “Reg Earn” and “Overtime” categories. (Id., Hanson Deck, Ex. 6 [Scott Depo. at 33:5-10].) However, if an employee were to add the hours corresponding to all three of these categories, the total hours worked would be incorrect. (Id. at 32:11-22.)

Next, corresponding to each of the three categories listed in the wage statements, the regular rate of pay was the same as the “Overtime” rate, and the “OvrTimePrm” rate was half of the regular rate. (Id. at 26:25-27:4.) As such, under this system, an employee would have to add the regular rate of pay to the one listed under “OvrTimePrm” to determine that his or her overtime rate is a time and a half the regular rate. (Id. at 29:13-30:1.)

Additionally, while the wage statements that FedEx provided to its employees list the end date for the pay period, (id., McKenzie Deck, Ex. 1 [Wage Statement]), it was not until December of 2009 that these statements [293]*293included a beginning date. (Id., Hanson Deel., Ex. 6 [Scott Depo. at 8:23-9:5].) Because of this, an employee would have to know beforehand that the corporate pay week is Sunday through Saturday, and either consult their work schedule or a calendar to determine the date range for the pay period. (Id., Ex. 5 [Dandrige Depo. at 29:16-19, 30:10-31:9].) According to FedEx’s human resources advisor, Dionne L. Dandrige (“Dandrige”), the “People Manual” notified employees what the beginning and end dates were for each pay week. (Id. at 6:5-6,17:20-25, 24:1-6.) Dandrige also explained in her deposition testimony that, as a practical matter, an employee can subtract six days from the end date on the wage statements to determine what the beginning date is for the pay period. (Id. at 41:12-42:13.)

Further, FedEx implemented this pay stub system and controlled how the wage statements were formatted for its hourly employees in California. (Id., Ex. 6 [Scott Depo. at 8:14-22, 22:8-23:6].)

B. Declarations Submitted By FedEx

In support of its opposition to class certification, FedEx has provided several declarations by its employees stating that they were paid every Friday, and understood that the wage statement was for work performed the previous Sunday through Saturday, Monday through Friday, or Sunday through Thursday, (compare, Opp., Ex. 5, [Beaureau Deck ¶ 2]; Ex. 8 [David Deck ¶ 2]; with, Ex. 23 [Marquez ¶¶ 4-5]; Ex. 26 [Nguyen Deck ¶ 2]; with, Ex. 28 [Paeubas Deck ¶ 2]); they are paid by direct deposit and do not receive an actual cheek, (see, e.g., id., Ex. 1 [Abraha Deck ¶ 4]); the wage statements are simple and they are not confused by it, or if they were initially confused, a FedEx manager answered all of their questions, (see, e.g., id., Ex. 3 [Ballard Deck ¶ 5]; Ex. 6 [Carrasco Deck ¶ 7]); they were able to determine on a few occasions that they were not paid correctly and the error was resolved by a FedEx manager, (see, e.g., id., Ex. 2 [Anderson Deck ¶ 6]; Ex. 7 [Castoreña Deck ¶¶ 7-8]); they would verify the hours worked for a pay period by using FedEx’s computer system and their own handwritten notes, (see, e.g., id., Ex. 9 [Edwards Deck ¶ 6]; Ex. 13 [Harris Deck ¶ 6]), they do not check the printed wage statements when they receive them, (see, e.g., id., Ex. 10 [Fisher Deck ¶ 5]); and some have stated that their pay has always been correct. (See, e.g., id., Ex. 30 [Quiroz Deel. ¶ 5].)

C. Procedural History

In November of 2009, McKenzie provided FedEx and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA”) written notice of the specific provisions of the Labor Code that she claims FedEx violated. (Mem., Hanson Deck, Ex. 1 [Letters to LWDA].) On December 21, 2009, the LWDA provided McKenzie and FedEx written notice that it did not intend to investigate the Labor Code violations raised by McKenzie. (Id. ¶ 4, Ex. 3 [LWDA Written Notice].) On February 19,2010, McKenzie filed a putative class action complaint against FedEx in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, and the case was subsequently removed to this Court on April 2, 2010. (Docket No. 1, Not., Ex.

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McKenzie v. Federal Express Corp., 275 F.R.D. 290, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65278, 2011 WL 2455510 (C.D. Cal. 2011).

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