California Employment Law Victory: Matern Law Group Secures $5.5 Million Settlement Against Packaging Industry
Matern Law Group, a leading plaintiff-side employment law firm in California, is proud to announce a major victory for workers. We recently secured a $5.5 million settlement on behalf of all hourly non-exempt employees who were denied proper compensation by their employer, WestRock Company. A federal judge in California has granted final approval for a […]
Save Mart Supermarkets Class Action Lawsuit
Save Mart Supermarkets is facing a class action lawsuit alleging that it illegally terminated health benefits for retirees and their spouses. The lawsuit alleges that Save Mart breached its fiduciary duty in April 2022 when it decided to stop paying $500 monthly health reimbursements to the retirees and their spouses, despite having previously represented the […]
Boston Market Restaurant Employees Win Class Certification
On Wednesday, January 11, 2023, a California judge granted certification of a class of hourly restaurant employees who allege improper wage and hour practices at Boston Market Corporation restaurant locations in California. Boston Market Corporation is a fast casual restaurant chain specializing in rotisserie chicken meals. During the relevant time period, Boston Market Corporation operated […]
Consumer Protection: What You Need To Know
Every customer deserves the freedom to make an informed decision. Some businesses try to take away this fundamental consumer right. They engage in deceptive business practices by lying or making misleading claims about their products. Fortunately, California has powerful consumer protection laws to punish businesses that use unfair or deceptive tactics. What Are Consumer Protection […]
Is Your Male Colleague Paid More for the Same Work?
The federal and California Equal Pay Acts require that men and women in the same workplace be given equal pay for equal work. Despite this requirement, women working full-time, year-round only make 83 cents for every dollar men make. When all workers are considered, including those working part-time, the gap increases to 73 cents on […]
Female Tech Workers Sue Zendesk for Equal Pay and Equal Treatment
June 1, 2022 In September 2021, a woman filed suit against Zendesk after Matt Ingebrigtsen, Director of Enterprise Sales-West, announced on a videoconference, “We call your baby the million-dollar baby because you lost out on a million dollars of wages since you took a full maternity leave.” Today, three more women filed a lawsuit under […]
Speaking Up
Attorneys at Matern Law Group are Passionate About Providing a Voice for Employees By Shane Nelson Special to the Daily Journal About a year ago, longtime employment litigator Matthew J. Matern started hosting a weekly radio show on KABC in Los Angeles, discussing social issues and politics with activists, authors and California state officials. […]
Class Action Challenges Vivint Solar Termination Fees
A judge recently ruled in favor of a group of California residents who were affected by a residential power purchase agreement with Vivint Solar. One person named Gerrie Dekker filed a lawsuit claiming that the contract was unfair and included illegal fees. The lawsuit seeks to stop Vivint Solar from continuing these practices and to […]
California Supreme Court Affirms Class & Broad Discovery Rights
You consult with an attorney who offers to represent you in a “wage and hour” class action case where you, as a plaintiff and class representative, will have an opportunity to represent all of the company’s California employees in a fight for unpaid wages. But how can you, as a class representative, prove that the […]
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether Class Action Waivers are Illegal
Many employees have experienced the same thing at their new job – they show up for their first day of work and are forced to sign a stack of paperwork. In recent times, many employers who plan on cheating their workers out of pay have been adding two documents to that stack: (1) an agreement […]
Will the U.S. Supreme Court Decide Whether Mandatory Class Action Waivers in Employment Arbitrations are Illegal?
On May 26, 2016, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit unanimously ruled that an employer’s mandatory arbitration agreement, requiring some of its employees to waive their rights to “participate in or receive money or any other relief from any class, collective, or representative proceeding[,]” was illegal, and hence […]
Supreme Court Decision – Class Action Limits Reach of Wal-Mart v. Dukes
In a ruling favorable to class-action plaintiffs, the United States Supreme Court recently held that, in certain circumstances, workers may use averages and other statistical analyses to establish class-wide liability. In Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 577 U.S. ___ (2016), Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for a 6-to-2 majority, upheld a lower court’s order denying decertification, and $5.8 […]
