Isais Vasquez, et al vs. Leprino Foods Company, et al

Case Background

On May 17, 2017, Plaintiff Isais Vasquez on behalf of all other similarly situated individuals filed a Class settlement lawsuit in the United States District Court Eastern District of California, Fresno Division(Case number: 1:17-cv-00796-). Magistrate Judge Barbara A. McAuliffe presided over this case.

Cause

Plaintiffs Isaias Vazquez and Linda Hefke, representing a class of similarly situated employees, worked as non-exempt, hourly workers at Leprino Foods Company’s Lemoore West facility in California. Leprino Foods, a Colorado corporation, implemented policies that systematically violated California labor laws. The company regularly required employees to report for their scheduled shifts but often sent them home without pay upon arrival, citing misjudgments in labor and production needs. This "de-crewing" policy denied employees their rightful compensation for reporting time, violating California's labor law protections. Employees who sought payment for reporting time were coerced into filling out Time Off Request (TOR) forms and forfeiting accrued vacation days in exchange for partial pay. These practices blatantly circumvented California’s Reporting Time Pay regulations, creating significant unpaid wages and contributing to labor law violations that exploited workers.

Injuries

Leprino Foods’ unlawful practices caused significant harm to its employees. Workers were deprived of wages for reporting as scheduled and were forced to remain on-call during meal and rest breaks without proper compensation. Supervisors frequently interrupted these breaks with work-related directives, violating employees' rights to duty-free rest periods as mandated by California law. These practices not only created unpaid wages but also led to financial strain for employees, compounded by improper deductions from their vacation balances. Additionally, the lack of transparency and disregard for labor standards cau