Current, Ex-Greyhound Employees Claim Bus Service Violated California Labor Laws

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

Current and former employees of Greyhound Lines allege the intercity bus service has violated California wage and hour laws by systematically underpaying its bus drivers.

The 18-page case alleges Greyhound has failed to pay its bus drivers proper wages for every hour worked and paid employees less than minimum wage for hours they are not driving, in particular for “reporting time” waiting to be assigned routes. The filing alleges violations of California's Labor Code, Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Wage Orders, and Business and Professions Code. 

According to the complaint, Greyhound did not pay the plaintiffs and similarly situated current and former employees based on the actual hours they worked. Instead, the company paid the individuals based on an estimation of how long their routes would take, even though "it was common for routes to take longer than estimated" and “practically impossible for routes to take less time” than Greyhound’s estimate, the case contends.

Additionally, the lawsuit relays that Greyhound required the plaintiffs to pre-check their buses before starting their routes, a process that takes 30 to 60 minutes. However, Greyhound would only pay the plaintiffs for 15 minutes’ worth of preparation time, the filing alleges.

The complaint alleges that the plaintiffs were paid only half their hourly rate when they were not driving, amounting to less than the California minimum hourly wage. These non-driving hours included meetings, drug tests, and time spent waiting for repairs after buses broke down, the filing states.

As the case tells it, Greyhound paid the plaintiffs half their hourly rate while they were transported to their route's starting locations, called “cushion time.” One plaintiff’s “extra board” routes, i.e., an additional route different from their ordinary one, took him across state lines and sometimes into Vancouver, while the other plaintiff’s extra board routes on his off-days would take similarly take him out of state, the suit says.

Still further, the plaintiffs claim that under Greyhound policy, employees are not compensated after the scheduled end of their route until the ride goes 45 minutes over. Even in that instance, Greyhound pays drivers only for the time that exceeds 45 minutes, the case alleges.

As a result of Greyhound's misconduct, the lawsuit says, employees have not received accurate wage statements, and one plaintiff has not been paid proper wages for every hour worked upon the termination of his employment.

The plaintiffs believe that the unlawful practices to which they were subjected were not just their unique experiences but "company-wide policies and practices for all drivers in the State of California and were suffered by all employee drivers."

The lawsuit looks to represent all current and former bus driver/operator employees of Greyhound who drove routes with stops in California in the past four years.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.