Class Action Claims California Sunrise Senior Living Services Employees Denied Proper Wages, Breaks

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A proposed class action claims Sunrise Senior Living employees in California were not paid proper wages for every hour worked or granted uninterrupted breaks in accordance with state law.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants—Sunrise Senior Living Services, Inc.; Sunrise Senior Living Management, Inc.; Sunrise Senior Living, LLC; and Sunrise Development, Inc.—were well aware that employees often began working earlier than their scheduled shift start times yet failed to pay for off-the-clock work hours.

Per the case, the two plaintiffs worked as caregivers at one of the defendants’ 51 elderly care facilities in California and put in unpaid off-the-clock work four to five times per week

Moreover, the case claims Sunrise Senior Living required proposed class members to continue working after they clocked out until the next caregivers clocked in, which took place approximately two to three days per week. As a matter of policy, however, the defendants refused to pay employees proper overtime compensation for the hours they worked above 40 each week, according to the suit.

The lawsuit goes on to allege the defendants often failed to provide workers with proper meal and rest breaks. Per the case, caregivers were required to keep with them at all times a buzzer with which residents could call for assistance. The plaintiffs claim they were often unable to clock out for meal periods, or were interrupted during meal periods, due to understaffing.

“PLAINTIFFS and putative class members worked shifts longer than five (5) hours but their meal periods would sometimes be shorter than thirty (30) minutes, taken after the fifth hour of the shift, or not provided at all,” the complaint states, adding that 10-minute rest periods were similarly skipped or interrupted.

Per the case, the defendants neither informed the plaintiffs and other employees of their policy for tracking missed breaks nor paid them required compensation for missed meal and rest breaks. Still further, the case claims Sunrise Senior Living employees were not provided with accurate, itemized wage statements or all wages they were owed at the time of their separation from employment.

The suit looks to represent all current and former hourly or non-exempt Sunrise Senior Living employees who worked in California at any time within the past four years and until final judgment in the case.

Initially filed in Contra Costa County, California Superior Court, the lawsuit was removed to the state’s Northern District Court on December 14, 2020.

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