Mitchell v. Yoplait

19 Cal.Rptr.3d 267 (2004) 122 Cal.App.4th Supp. 8 William MITCHELL, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.

YOPLAIT, a Division of GENERAL MILLS INC., Defendant and Respondent.

No. BV 024557. Appellate Division, Superior Court, Los Angeles County.

August 24, 2004. [268] Kearney Alvarez, Paul Alvarez and Michele L. Jackson, for plaintiff and appellant.

Jones Day, William J. Emanuel, Harry I. Johnson, III and Elaine T. Byszewski, Los Angeles, for defendant and respondent.

OPINION AND JUDGMENT

LEE, P.J.

Proceedings Below

Appellant William Mitchell (appellant) was employed by respondent Yoplait (respondent), a division of General Mills, Inc., as a warehouse worker in its distribution center in Carson, California. In July 1999, appellant and other employees at the center voted on and passed an alternative workweek schedule (AWS), wherein the center's employees agreed that they would work three 12-hour shifts and one six-hour shift a week (hereafter XX-XX-XX-X). Under the agreement, only the last two hours in each 12-hour shift were considered overtime entitled to time-and-a-half wages; in other words, they did not receive overtime pay for the ninth and tenth hours of work on the 12-hour shift days. The agreement was confirmed by the employees in another vote in March 2001.

On July 14, 2000, appellant filed a complaint with the Labor Commissioner, contending that the AWS was illegal, on the basis that the Labor Code only permitted an AWS of 10 hours a day for four days (hereafter XX-XX-XX-XX). Appellant argued that he was entitled to overtime pay for the ninth and tenth hours of each 12-hour shift. Appellant, who had been paid $17.44 per hour for 36 hours and $26.16 per hour for six hours a week, sought overtime pay for an additional six hours per week. The hearing officer ruled in favor of appellant, finding that the AWS agreement was null and void, since "[t]en hours is the maximum numbers of hours allowed under the alternative workweek provisions ...." The order, decision, or award of the Labor Commissioner awarded appellant overtime wages in the amount of $4,662.66, as well as interest in the