Anderson v. Total Renal Care
Appellants, Rosemary Anderson and Richard Brown, appeal from the trial court’s order denying their motion to certify a number of classes of employees allegedly injured by respondent Total Renal Care’s employment policies and practices. Appellants alleged that respondent violated California wage and hour laws and failed to issue paychecks in compliance with Labor Code section 212. Below, appellants specifically sought to certify three classes: (1) employees who were not given a “meal break,†(2) employees whose paychecks failed to comply with Labor Code section 212, and (3) employees who were required to take their meal break early in the first hour of their shift. As we shall explain, the court did not err in failing to certify classes related to the meal period claims based on the court’s finding that individual matters predominated the determination of these claims. Nor do we find that remand is required in light of Brinker Restaurant Corporation v. Superior Court (2012) 53 Cal.4th 1004 (Brinker). However, we reverse the court’s denial of the class certification motion concerning the Labor Code section 212 paycheck claim. It appears that the court failed to specifically rule on that claim, and it is sufficiently distinct from the other claims that we cannot infer a ruling on it based on the court’s orders. Consequently we remand the matter for reconsideration.
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