PAGE 24 | August 18, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
California fines Jack in the Box
$903,084 for failing to pay overtime
The California Division of Labor
Standards Enforcement cited a
Jack in the Box franchise opera-
tor $903,084 for misclassifying
40 managers as exempt and
denying them overtime pay.
Nor-Cal Venture Group, Inc.
owns 26 Jack in the Box fran-
chises in California, primarily in
the greater Sacramento area.
Labor Commissioner Julie A.
Su opened an investigation after
receiving a complaint and found
that 40 employees were misclas-
sified as exempt. As managers,
they were required to work a
minimum of 45 hours per week
with no overtime, regardless of
how many hours they worked.
“For these employees, being
misclassified as managers re-
sulted in being paid less than
minimum wage,” Su said.
Managers who spend less than
half of their work time on mana-
gerial duties must be paid over-
time. Investigators determined
that the 40 workers were per-
forming the same duties as other
employees.
The citations issued to Nor-
Cal Venture Group, Inc. include
$416,783 in unpaid overtime
wages and penalties, $218,227 in
minimum wage violations and
penalties, $169,427 in liquidated
damages, and $98,647 in waiting
time penalties for 16 workers,
who were not paid at the conclu-
sion of their employment. When
workers are paid less than mini-
mum wage, they are entitled to
liquidated damages that equal the
amount of underpaid wages, plus
interest.
Worker misclassification re-
sults in an estimated loss of $7
billion each year in payroll tax
revenue to the state of California.
Employees misclassified as inde-
pendent contractors are also fre-
quently underpaid and do not
have on-the-job benefits and pro-
tections, including workers’ com-
pensation, unemployment insur-
ance, and the right to unionize.
In 2014, Su launched the
‘Wage Theft is a Crime’ public
awareness campaign. The cam-
paign defines wage theft and in-
forms workers of their rights and
the resources available to them to
recover unpaid wages or report
other labor law violations.