Avalon Health Care, Berryman Health FCRA and California Labor Law Class Action

The complaint for this class action comes packed with allegations against three companies, Avalon Health Care Inc., Berryman Health, Inc., and Avalon Health Care Management of California, LLC. It first makes claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and state laws about the companies’ practices of obtaining background reports for job applicants. Then it goes on to a number of labor law violations

Nine classes or subclasses have been defined for this action, including an FCRA Class, an ICRAA Class, a CCRAA Class, an Hourly Employee Class, a Meal Period Subclass, a Rest Period Subclass, a Wage Statement Penalties Subclass, a Waiting Time Penalties Subclass, and a UCL Class. Some are nationwide classes; others are only for those working for the companies in California. See the document linked below at page 9 of 42, for complete definitions.

The plaintiff in this case is Lawrence J. Williamson, who worked for the defendant companies between approximately December 5, 2017 through January 29, 2019. He makes his complaints on behalf of himself and all other similarly-situated employees of the defendants.

Background Report Violations: The companies obtain credit and background reports on prospective job applicants, but the complaint says they do not comply with the FCRA or similar California laws (ICRAA, CCRAA) in doing so. 

For example, the FCRA requires that such reports can only be obtain if a “clear and conspicuous disclosure has been made in writing to the consumer … in a document that consists solely of the disclosure…” The complaint claims that the companies did not comply with this provision because the disclosures they offer are “embedded with extraneous information and are not clear and unambiguous disclosures in stand-alone documents.” A liability release was also included in the document. 

Also, the companies did not give applicants a summary of rights under the FCRA, as required by law. 

Labor Law Violations: The complaint alleges that that companies did not provide employees with the meal breaks or rest breaks prescribed by law. An employer can do this only when the employee agrees to forego the breaks, and then the employer must pay an additional amount for the missed breaks. 

In addition, the complaint says that the companies’ wage statements were not accurate, because they did not include the additional amounts for missed meal and rest breaks.

Also, the complaint alleges that the companies did not pay employees all of their final wages when their employment ended. This would incur waiting-time penalties under California laws. 

Unfair Competition: The final charge the complaint makes comes under California’s Unfair Competition Law, which allows a person who has lost money or property due to unfair competition to bring a class action to recover that money or property. Unfair competition includes any unlawful business practice. The complaint alleges that the plaintiff and classes in this case have lost money through the unlawful practices of the defendants.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Employment
Tags: FCRA, Failure to Allow for/Figure in Break Time, Failure to Pay All Wages Due at Termination, Failure to provide proper notice and/or obtain proper authorization, Failure to provide subject with summary of rights under FCRA