Language Line Employment Violations Ohio and California Class Action

This employment class action bring suit against Language Line Services, Inc. (LLS) on behalf of a employees grouped under the approximate job title “Interpreter.” The complaint alleges that the company has violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as well as state employment laws for Ohio and California, by failing to pay earned minimum and overtime wages, among other things.

Three classes have been defined for this action:

• The FLSA Collective Class is all of LLS’s current and former interpreters, and those with similar job duties but different titles, who worked for LLS between April 18, 2019 and the present.
• The Ohio Rule 23 Class is all of LLS’s current and former interpreters, and those with similar job duties but different titles, who worked for LLS within Ohio between April 18, 2019 and the present.
• The California Rule 23 Class is all of LLS’s current and former interpreters, and those with similar job duties but different titles, who worked for LLS within California between April 18, 2018 and the present.

In addition to the FLSA, the complaint alleges that LLS has violated the Ohio Minimum Fair Wage Standards Act (OMWFSA), the California Labor Code, certain California Industrial Welfare Commission Orders, and the California Business & Professions Code.

The FLSA and OMWFSA require that employers pay nonexempt employees time and a half for all hours worked over forty in a week, and that short rest periods be counted as hours worked. The complaint alleges that LLS did not pay interpreters for overtime hours at overtime rates and did not count rest periods as work time.

The same laws claim that employees are providing kickbacks to employers if they are not reimbursed for expenses like the tools of their trade and if these expenses would reduce their wages in any given week. The complaint claims that LLS required interpreters to provide Internet service and equipment that interpreters needed to carry out their job duties.

California laws and wage orders required that businesses pay employees for all hours worked, to pay overtime at time and a half, and to pay premiums for rest and meal breaks that were interrupted or not given. However, the complaint alleges that LLS did not pay interpreters for work performed before and after their shifts or for work performed during meal or rest periods, that it did not pay overtime at overtime rates, and it did not pay the required premiums when full rest and meal breaks were not given.

California law also provides for penalties when employees are not paid all they were owed when they separate from the company. Given the violations it alleges, the complaint claims LLS owed interpreters money at the time they separated from the company.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Employment
Tags: Employment Violations, Failure to Allow for/Figure in Break Time, Overtime Not Paid at Overtime Rates, Unpaid Overtime, Work Expenses