Taco Bell May Be Facing New Class-Action Suit
Taco Bell Corp.’s legal troubles with its workers, already the subject of large class-action lawsuits in the Pacific Northwest, are expanding in California.
A 70-year-old security guard who worked at two Taco Bell restaurants in Los Angeles has sued the giant fast-food company, claiming it repeatedly refused to pay him overtime and then fired him for being “too old” when he complained.
His attorney said she plans to seek class-action status for the case, one of at least two filed in California against the Irvine-based Mexican fast-food chain involving overtime pay and job-classification issues.
A Santa Clara County case covers 2,400 salaried employees at Taco Bell restaurants in California. The workers--general managers and assistant managers of company-owned restaurants--claim they were eligible for overtime pay because most of their duties were routine, not supervisory.
The newest case, filed last week by retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Arnold Tanner, contends that Taco Bell violated state labor laws regarding overtime pay and engaged in age discrimination.
Tanner, hired by Taco Bell as a $16-an-hour security guard in the fall of 1995, worked a 12-hour day that November and 14 straight days that December, according to the suit. When he wasn’t paid overtime on a weekly basis as promised, he complained to the restaurants’ manager, then to Taco Bell’s corporate office, the suit states.
Six days after contacting the corporate office, Tanner was berated by the manager and fired for being “too old,” according to the complaint.
“I really believe they knew they were going to get rid of him no matter what,” said Tanner’s attorney, Susan Lask of Lask & Ullman in Los Angeles.
Taco Bell spokesman Peter Stack declined to comment on the Tanner case. “Taco Bell is committed to paying its employees for all time worked, and nothing less, and we take that responsibility seriously,” he said.
Earlier this month, Taco Bell agreed to settle a class-action suit with up to 16,000 workers in Washington state who are seeking to recover back pay for unrecorded work hours, unpaid overtime and other alleged wage and hour violations. Attorneys in that case estimate that claims from a four-year period could reach $10 million. The company faces a similar suit in Oregon.
Tanner is seeking an undisclosed amount of overtime pay, plus unspecified punitive damages and attorneys fees.
His suit contends that Taco Bell managers are forced to keep operating costs at certain levels and that when they fail, they are berated in regional management meetings. One way managers keep costs down is by not paying overtime, the suit said.
