09/29/2012 // Los Angeles, CA, USA // Keller Grover LLP // Eric Grover // (press release)
Los Angeles, CA — The appeal of a lower court’s order that denied certification of a class of former independent contractors for several California newspapers owned by MEDIANEWS GROUP, INC., has hit another dead end, reports Eric Grover, a Los Angeles employment lawyer.
Originally filed in 2006, the complaint was amended a total of six times. In the most recent amendment, the plaintiffs claimed that defendants hired them as low-wage independent contractors to insert advertisements into newspapers, fold and bag the newspapers, and then deliver them to subscribers.
On appeal, the plaintiffs asserted that they were in fact employees—not independent contractors—and the arrangement was a “sham.” They further claimed that the defendants did this “knowingly and deliberately…to evade their legal responsibilities to the employees.”
The lawsuit charged MEDIANEWS GROUP with:
• Fraud based on the allegedly false representations to the workers that they were independent contractors and not employees.
• Concealment by the defendants of the true nature of the employment relationship.
• Violation of California minimum wage and overtime pay laws
• Failure to pay wages due at termination
• Failure to maintain records and provide accurate itemized wage statements.
• Failure to provide meal breaks
• Failure to provide rest breaks
• Violation of Labor Code section 2802 (indemnification of employee expenses made in discharge of their duties)
• Violation of the Business and Professions Code section 1700 (unfair or fraudulent business act or practice)
In 2010, plaintiffs moved for class certification of their case, but the trial court ultimately denied their motion.
In order to be certified a class must have certain common interests among many individuals and it must be impractical to try each case separately. The class must be “ascertainable” with a “well-defined community of interest among the class members.”
The court focused on the central issue, which was whether or not the group should be classified as independent contractors or employees. Both the lower court and the court of appeal found that plaintiffs had failed to show that certain common issues necessary for certification existed.
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