Because California has strict laws regarding overtime and rest and meal periods, the Golden State is a hotbed for employment issues, particularly with gig and tech companies. They have challenged California’s employee protections by trying to implement efficiency and cost-cutting measures, only to find themselves embroiled in litigation. Uber has ongoing legal challenges with the state, mainly over driver misclassification, and now it seems to challenge traditional labor laws. Could this latest wage and hour complaint be a nail in its coffin or will there be an eventual change in compliance to labor standards?
Justin Malone filed a wage and hour complaint against Uber and his direct supervisor last month in California Superior Court, accusing Uber Technologies Inc. and his direct supervisor of violating provisions of the California Labor Code. According to court documents, Malone was hired as a non-exempt salesperson, because his supervisor told him that “no overtime would be permitted or approved,” but the demands of goal “numbers” to attain commissions led to him working at least 55 hours a week, but he wasn’t compensated for all of these extra hours.
Malone accuses Uber of the following:
- unpaid contractual, minimum and overtime wages
- non-compliant meal and rest periods without payment of premiums, which caused inaccurate wage statements
- failure to pay all wages earned at time of separation.
Malone says that other employees have the same issues. According to his complaint, no meal breaks were ever scheduled, or allowed, and his colleagues always ate lunch at their desks. Rest breaks were never authorized or permitted. Malone’s direct supervisor, Omar Said Orantes, told him that overtime would not be approved or permitted, and this policy was applied throughout Malone’s observation of company norms. “Make sure you hit your [commission] numbers even if working outside regular business hours,” Orantes told employees, and not just Malone.
Malone was hired in April 2023 to maintain existing accounts and acquire new ones for Uber Eats, and he received certain commission compensation incentives when he hit certain goals. Malone said he hit all those goals and received positive performance reviews, so much so that he was assigned the Dodger Stadium and So-Fi Stadium accounts, both considered important. He was also promised promotions, but he resigned—after giving three weeks’ notice—in August 2024, after realizing his role as account executive was going nowhere.
Overtime Abuse
Malone’s overtime abuses were so significant that his colleagues complained to Human Resources about the excessive off-the-clock hours he was required to work—not only under Orantes’ orders, but also under general corporate practices. Malone was paid an hourly rate of $26. His wage statements over the course of a year amounted to only $134 in paid overtime. “This is a gross misrepresentation of hours worked and wages earned,” says his attorney. Malone said he was required to be in the office from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He was also expected to work weekends when needed, he said. Not only is this an overtime violation; it is also a minimum wage violation.
Final Paycheck
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Despite Malone giving Uber three weeks’ notice before leaving, Uber did not issue his final paycheck until more than 10 days after his last day, which is in violation of the California Labor Code. Final wages must be paid out immediately upon separation from a company as long as the departing employee provided the company with notice. Malone said that Uber sent him a regular wage statement for 80 hours of regular payment that dated back to December 2023. “At least Uber finally found those unpaid hours,” Malone told Law360. But he was never paid all wages earned at time of separation.
With more and more complaints like this, employees are becoming more aware of their rights, particularly in California’s employee-friendly legal environment. Perhaps more cases such as Malone’s will see other tech and gig economy companies facing similar internal issues leading to wage and hour lawsuits.
The case is Malone v. Uber Technologies Inc. et al., case number 25STCV14398, in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.
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