Lawsuit Claims LAX Restaurant, Retail Workers Owed Unpaid Minimum Wages, Final Paychecks

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Three former servers at restaurants in Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) claim they were paid less than the city’s living wage rate and denied all wages they were owed when they were laid off during the COVID-19 crisis.

The plaintiffs say they each worked for defendant Host International, Inc., the food and beverage concessionaire that operates restaurants and retail stores within LAX, for over 30 years and, since at least July 2017, were paid below the minimum rate set by the Los Angeles Living Wage Ordinance (LWO).

Although the city’s minimum wage rate was $12.08 per hour between July 2017 and June 2018 and $13.75 per hour between July 2018 and July 2019, Host employees were paid only $12.00 per hour until roughly October 2018, followed by an hourly rate of $13.25 after that, per the complaint.

The lawsuit alleges Host’s underpayment of its LAX workers was intentional given the company was well aware of its obligations under the LWO and “deliberately failed to comply” with the law. Moreover, workers were not provided with accurate, itemized wage statements due to the company’s failure to pay correct wage rates, the case says.

According to the suit, Host began laying off employees, including the plaintiffs, in March and April 2020 in response to the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The plaintiffs claim Host failed to “immediately” pay workers their earned wages and accrued vacation time upon their separation from employment despite being required to do so under the California Labor Code.

“As of the filing of this Complaint, Plaintiffs still have not received the final wages they are owed,” the lawsuit states.

While Host referred to the layoffs as a “furlough,” the use of this term does not allow the employer to skirt its obligation to pay employees in accordance with state and local law, the case argues, alleging the company required workers to turn in their security badges, offered no return-to-work date, and failed to put them back to work “in a timely manner.”

“Plaintiffs and putative class members performed no work for Host and did not receive any pay between the dates of the layoffs in March and April 2020 and October 2020,” according to the suit.

In August 2020, Host workers received a letter from the company advising them that they were being permanently laid off if they were not called back to work by October 15, 2020, the case says.

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