Tolentino v. Gillig, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJanuary 13, 2021
Docket3:20-cv-07427
StatusUnknown

This text of Tolentino v. Gillig, LLC (Tolentino v. Gillig, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tolentino v. Gillig, LLC, (N.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 RONALD TOLENTINO, individually, and Case No. 20-cv-07427-MMC on behalf of all others similarly situated, 8 ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S Plaintiff, MOTION TO REMAND; GRANTING IN 9 PART AND DENYING IN PART v. DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS; 10 REMANDING STATE LAW CLAIMS GILLIG, LLC, 11 Defendant. 12 13 Before the Court are the following two motions: (1) plaintiff Ronald Tolentino’s 14 (“Tolentino”) “Motion to Remand,” filed November 6, 2020, and (2) defendant Gillig, LLC’s 15 (“Gillig”) “Motion to Dismiss,” filed December 4, 2020. Both motions have been fully 16 briefed. Having considered the papers filed in support of and in opposition to the 17 motions, the Court rules as follows.1 18 BACKGROUND 19 In the instant action, Tolentino, who was employed by Gillig as a maintenance 20 worker from May 2002 to June 2020 (see Compl. ¶ 7), alleges Gillig “failed to pay [him] 21 for all hours worked (including minimum wages and overtime compensation), failed to 22 provide [him] with uninterrupted meal periods, failed to authorize and permit [him] to take 23 uninterrupted rest periods, failed to maintain accurate records of the hours [he] worked, 24 failed to timely pay all final wages to [him] when [Gillig] terminated [his] employment, and 25 failed to furnish accurate wage statements to [him]” (see id. ¶ 14). 26

27 1 By orders filed December 7, 2020, and January 4, 2021, the Court took the 1 Based thereon, Tolentino, on September 16, 2020, filed his complaint in the 2 Superior Court of California, in and for the County of Alameda, asserting, on behalf of 3 himself and a putative class, the following seven Causes of Action: (1) “Failure to Pay 4 Minimum Wages for All Hours Worked,” (2) “Failure to Pay Overtime Wages,” (3) “Failure 5 to Provide Meal Periods,” (4) “Failure to Authorize and Permit Rest Periods,” (5) “Failure 6 to Pay Wages of Discharged Employees – Waiting Time Penalties,” (6) “Failure to 7 Provide and Maintain Accurate and Compliant Wage Records,” and (7) “Violation of 8 California Business & Professions Code §§ 17200, et seq.” 9 On October 22, 2020, Gillig removed the case to federal court, on the ground that 10 the asserted Causes of Action are preempted by federal labor law, specifically, § 301 of 11 the Labor Management Relations Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 185. Thereafter, Tolentino 12 moved to remand the case to state court, on the ground that this Court lacks subject 13 matter jurisdiction, and Gillig moved to dismiss all Causes of Action alleged therein, 14 pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 15 LEGAL STANDARD 16 A. Motion to Remand 17 “If at any time before final judgment it appears that the district court lacks subject 18 matter jurisdiction, the case shall be remanded,” see 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c), and “federal 19 jurisdiction must be rejected if there is any doubt as to the right of removal in the first 20 instance,” see Duncan v. Stuetzle, 76 F.3d 1480, 1485 (9th Cir. 1996). The party 21 invoking the federal court's removal jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing federal 22 jurisdiction. See Emrich v. Toche Ross & Co., 846 F.2d 1190, 1195 (9th Cir. 1988). 23 B. Motion to Dismiss 24 Dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure "can be 25 based on the lack of a cognizable legal theory or the absence of sufficient facts alleged 26 under a cognizable legal theory." See Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep't, 901 F.2d 696, 27 699 (9th Cir. 1990). Rule 8(a)(2), however, "requires only 'a short and plain statement of 1 Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2)). Consequently, "a 2 complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual 3 allegations." See id. Nonetheless, "a plaintiff's obligation to provide the grounds of his 4 entitlement to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation 5 of the elements of a cause of action will not do." See id. (internal quotation, citation, and 6 alteration omitted). 7 In analyzing a motion to dismiss, a district court must accept as true all material 8 allegations in the complaint and construe them in the light most favorable to the 9 nonmoving party. See NL Indus., Inc. v. Kaplan, 792 F.2d 896, 898 (9th Cir. 1986). "To 10 survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual material, accepted 11 as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'" Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 12 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570). "Factual allegations must be 13 enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level[.]" Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. 14 Courts "are not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual 15 allegation." See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (internal quotation and citation omitted). 16 DISCUSSION 17 A. Motion to Remand 18 In his Motion to Remand, Tolentino argues Gillig “failed to establish federal 19 question jurisdiction under § 301 pre-emption of the Labor Management Relations Act.” 20 (See Mot. to Remand at 2:3-6.) 21 Pursuant to section 301 of the LMRA, “[s]uits for violation of contracts between an 22 employer and a labor organization . . . may be brought in any district court of the United 23 States having jurisdiction of the parties.” See 29 U.S.C. § 185. “The preemptive force of 24 section 301 is so powerful that it displaces entirely any state cause of action for violation 25 of a collective bargaining agreement [“CBA”], and any state claim whose outcome 26 depends on analysis of the terms of the agreement.” See Newberry v. Pac. Racing 27 Ass’n, 854 F.2d 1142, 1146 (9th Cir. 1988) (internal citation omitted). “Once preempted, 1 federal claim, and therefore arises under federal law.” See Burnside v. Kiewit Pac. Corp., 2 491 F.3d 1053, 1059 (9th Cir. 2007) (alteration in original) (internal quotation and citation 3 omitted). 4 To determine whether a state law claim is preempted by § 301, the Ninth Circuit 5 employs a “two-step test.” See Curtis v. Irwin Indus., Inc., 913 F.3d 1146, 1152 (9th Cir. 6 2019). First, courts ask “whether the asserted cause of action involves a right conferred 7 upon an employee by virtue of state law, not by a CBA.” See Burnside, 491 F.3d at 8 1059. “If the right exists solely as a result of the CBA, then the claim is preempted.” See 9 id. “If, however, the right exists independently of the CBA,” the court must determine 10 “whether it is nevertheless substantially dependent on analysis of a collective-bargaining 11 agreement,” see id.

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Tolentino v. Gillig, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tolentino-v-gillig-llc-cand-2021.