Land O’Lakes Manufacturing Center Workers Owed Unpaid Wages in California, Lawsuit Claims

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed collective action out of California claims workers at Land O’Lakes, Inc. manufacturing centers were deprived of proper minimum and overtime wages, as well as statutorily afforded breaks and compensation in lieu of breaks, as required under state law.

The lawsuit alleges that the dairy company’s California manufacturing center employees were robbed of proper overtime and double time due to Land O’ Lakes’ failure to include non-discretionary wages, such as shift premiums and incentive pay, in the calculation of workers’ regular pay rates. Moreover, the lawsuit claims employees are owed minimum wages for time spent working during unpaid meal breaks and undergoing security checks at the beginning and end of each shift and break.

As the case tells it, Land O’Lakes frequently required employees to work through their 30-minute meal breaks due to problems with break scheduling at its manufacturing centers. At other times, workers were allegedly forced to remain on duty during their breaks or were interrupted from utilizing the full 30 minutes as afforded under California’s Labor Code. The lawsuit further claims employees were not provided with statutory 10-minute on-the-clock rest breaks after every four hours of work. The complaint argues that employees are entitled to one hour of pay at their regular rates for every day in which a proper break was not provided.

Lastly, the lawsuit claims workers are owed reporting time pay for each day in which they were required to show up to work but sent home early without being paid at least half a day’s wages.

The case looks to cover all California citizens who are or were non-exempt employees at Land O’Lakes’ California manufacturing centers within the past four years. The lawsuit, initially filed March 6 in Tulare County Superior Court, has been removed to California’s Eastern District.