Vazquez v. TWC Administration LLC

254 F. Supp. 3d 1220, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59527
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedMay 4, 2015
DocketNo. 2:14-cv-07621-CAS(FFMx)
StatusPublished

This text of 254 F. Supp. 3d 1220 (Vazquez v. TWC Administration 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
Vazquez v. TWC Administration LLC, 254 F. Supp. 3d 1220, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59527 (C.D. Cal. 2015).

Opinion

DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (Dkt. No. 36, filed April 6, 2015).

CHRISTINA A. SNYDER, Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On September 2, 2014, plaintiffs Daisy Vazquez and Bryan Joseph filed this putative class action in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Defendants TWC Administration LLC, Time Warner Cable Inc., and Time Warner Cable NY LLC (collectively “defendants” or “Time Warner”) removed the action to federal court on October 1, 2014. Dkt. No. 1. On February 2, 2015, plaintiffs filed the operative Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”). Dkt. No. 23. The SAC asserts claims for (1) failure to pay wages in violation of California Labor Code §§ 204, 510, 558, 1194, and 1198; (2) failure to pay wages in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.; (3) failure to provide accurate itemized statements in violation of California Labor Code § 225 et seq.; (4) waiting time penalties under California Labor Code §§ 201-03; (5) unfair competition in violation of California Business & Professions Code § 17200 et seq.; and (6) penalties pursuant to California Labor Code § 2698 et seq.1

On April 6, 2015, defendants filed a motion for summary judgment or, in the alternative, partial summary judgment, attacking the legal sufficiency of plaintiffs’ claims and plaintiffs’ standing to bring them. Dkt. No. 36. Plaintiffs opposed the motion on April 13, 2015, and defendants filed a reply on April 20, 2015. Dkt. Nos. 41, 49. On May 4, 2015, the Court held a [1222]*1222hearing on the motion. For the reasons that follow, the motion is GRANTED.

II. BACKGROUND

The following facts are not in material dispute. Time Warner is in the business of providing cable, internet, phone, and other digital and entertainment services in at least twenty-nine states. SAC ¶ 3. Plaintiffs formerly worked for Time Warner in Los Angeles, California, and were not exempt from relevant laws requiring the payment of overtime wages. SAC ¶¶ 9-10; Defs.’ Statement of Undisputed Facts (“SUF”) ¶ 1; Pis.’ Statement of Genuine Issues (“SGI”) ¶ 1.

The Fair Labor • Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1), requires that employers pay non-exempt employees one-and-a-half times the “regular rate” for time worked in excess of forty hours in a workweek. California Labor Code § 510 requires employers to pay overtime compensation to an employee for “any work in excess of eight hours in one workday and any work in excess of 40 hours in any one work week ... at the rate- of no less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay for an employee.” Courts and the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (“DLSE”) “look[] to FLSA standards to interpret the ‘regular rate of pay’ under California law.”2 Alonzo v. Maximus, Inc., 832 F.Supp.2d 1122, 1129 (C.D.Cal.2011) (citing Advanced-Tech Sec. Servs., Inc. v. Superior Court, 163 Cal.App.4th 700, 707, 77 Cal.Rptr.3d 757 (2008)). Under both California and federal law, “wages divided by hours equals regular rate.” Overnight Motor Transp. Co. v. Missel, 316 U.S. 572, 580 n. 16, 62 S.Ct. 1216, 86 L.Ed. 1682 (1942), superseded by statute in other respects as stated in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 105 S.Ct. 613, 83 L.Ed.2d 523 (1985); see also Walling v. Youngerman-Reynolds Hardwood Co., 325 U.S. 419, 424, 65 S.Ct. 1242, 89 L.Ed. 1705 (1945) (defining “regular rate” as “the hourly rate actually paid the employee for the normal, non-overtime workweek for which he is employed”).

At all relevant times, Time Warner counted for overtime calculation purposes both the hours plaintiffs actually worked and paid time off (“PTO”) for vacation, holiday, or personal reasons. SUF ¶ 2; SGI ¶ 2. Thus, even if plaintiffs did not actually work eight hours in a day or forty days in a workweek, they could still be paid premium overtime compensation if they took in that workweek PTO that, when added to the hours worked, caused their total hours to exceed eight in a day or forty in a week. SUF ¶ 3; SGI ¶ 3.3 Additionally, Time Warner included PTO in the number of total hours by which defendants would divide a non-exempt employee’s non-overtime compensation to compute that employee’s “regular rate” of pay. Plaintiffs do not contend that Time Warner ever counted PTO hours for purposes of calculating their regular rates of pay without also counting those hours in determining whether plaintiffs were entitled to overtime compensation and, if so, for how many hours. SUF ¶ 9; SGI ¶ 9.

For the purposes of calculating overtime compensation, Time Warner uses a work[1223]*1223week that runs from Friday to Thursday. SUF ¶ 11; SGI ¶ 11. Time Warner utilized two-week periods for paying regular wages and overtime premiums for overtime hours worked during the workweeks in each pay period. SUF ¶ 12; SGI ¶ 12.

Plaintiffs were subject to various compensation plans that included, in addition to their flat hourly wages, “Scorecard” compensation, which comprised commission and other incentives. SUF ¶ 13; SGI ¶¶ 13, 21. Illustratively, Joseph’s commissions were “based on the dollar amount paid per installed core product [and] determined based on the total core products installed during a scorecard cycle.” SUF ¶ 14; SGI ¶ 14. This Scorecard portion of Joseph’s compensation was calculated separately for each Scorecard cycle based on his score on various performance benchmarks, such as productivity, average “handle time,” and customer satisfaction. SUF ¶ 15; SGI ¶ 15. Per his compensation plan, a higher number of Scorecard points meant a higher commission level.' SUF ¶ 16; SGI ¶ 16; Defs.’ Response to Pis.’ Statement of Genuine Issues (“RSGI”) ¶ 16.

Commissions were calculated after the completion of each Scorecard cycle, which as relevant here ran from the 19th of one month to the 18th of the following month. SUF ¶¶ 17, 18; SGI ¶¶ 17, 18. Accordingly, these Scorecard cycles did not necessarily coincide with defendants’ Friday through Thursday workweeks, and could start or end in the middle of a workweek. SUF ¶¶ 19-20; SGI ¶¶ 19-20. At the end of each Scorecard cycle, Time Warner calculated plaintiffs’ Scorecard compensation and supplemented their overtime payments to account for that additional compensation, although plaintiffs assert that defendants did so incorrectly. SUF ¶ 22; SGI ¶ 22. Specifically, Scorecard incentive compensation for the fiscal month allocation period was divided evenly across the workweeks chronologically closest to that period. SUF ¶ 23; SGI ¶¶23, 51; see Dkt. No. 41-1 (DuMond Report) at 4. Defendants than paid plaintiffs the difference between the original overtime premiums paid and the higher, restated overtime premiums (which plaintiffs contend should have been still higher). SUF ¶ 25; SGI ¶ 25. Plaintiffs do not contend that any incentive payments were not allocated and incorporated into their regular rates in some fashion. SUF ¶ 26; SGI ¶ 26.

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Related

Overnight Motor Transportation Co. v. Missel
316 U.S. 572 (Supreme Court, 1942)
Walling v. Youngerman-Reynolds Hardwood Co.
325 U.S. 419 (Supreme Court, 1945)
Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston
469 U.S. 111 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
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Marin v. Costco Wholesale Corp.
169 Cal. App. 4th 804 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)
Advanced-Tech Security Services, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County
163 Cal. App. 4th 700 (California Court of Appeal, 2008)
O'BRIEN v. Town of Agawam
482 F. Supp. 2d 115 (D. Massachusetts, 2007)
DUPLESSE v. County of Los Angeles
714 F. Supp. 2d 1045 (C.D. California, 2010)
Abromson v. American Pacific Corp.
114 F.3d 898 (Ninth Circuit, 1997)
Valley National Bank v. A.E. Rouse & Co.
121 F.3d 1332 (Ninth Circuit, 1997)
Coleman v. Quaker Oats Co.
232 F.3d 1271 (Ninth Circuit, 2000)
Vasserman v. Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital
65 F. Supp. 3d 932 (C.D. California, 2014)
Alonzo v. Maximus, Inc.
832 F. Supp. 2d 1122 (C.D. California, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
254 F. Supp. 3d 1220, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59527, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vazquez-v-twc-administration-llc-cacd-2015.