Starbucks Hit with Unpaid Overtime Class Action Lawsuit in California

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Starbucks Corporation is the defendant in an amended proposed class action complaint wherein a former employee alleges the company ran afoul of California labor laws. Initially filed in superior court and recently removed to federal court, the lawsuit claims Starbucks failed to pay proper time-and-a-half overtime wages due to miscalculating workers’ regular hourly rates of pay by failing to account for both performance-based incentive compensation and meal break premiums.

The case says the plaintiff and similarly situated employees were paid an hourly rate plus incentive wages that were based on specific elements of an individual’s performance. Wages earned through Starbucks’ non-discretionary incentive program, as well as wages for times when employees were too busy to take off-duty meal breaks, should have been included in the workers’ regular rates of pay for the purpose of calculating overtime, the lawsuit says.

“The failure to do so has resulted in a systematic underpayment of overtime compensation and meal break premiums to [the plaintiff] and other California class members by [Starbucks],” the complaint alleges.