Auto Group Settles Wage Lawsuit for $212,675 in CA PAGA Case
Table of Contents
Case Background
This case originated as a significant California labor action, centering on claims that a former employee, Neena Jaramillo-Johnson, experienced systemic wage and hour violations while working for Logic Automotive Group, LLC. Ms. Jaramillo-Johnson initiated the lawsuit on January 30, 2024, in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, with the goal of not only seeking redress for her own injuries but also penalizing the company for similar treatment of its entire workforce.
The lawsuit utilized the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), a unique feature of California law that empowers an individual employee to act as a private prosecutor, suing an employer on behalf of the State for civil penalties tied to Labor Code violations. The Plaintiff, therefore, pursued the litigation in two capacities: as an individual employee and as a representative for all "aggrieved employees" who had worked for Logic Automotive Group.
Cause
The main legal cause of the complaint rested on the Defendant company’s failure to abide by numerous non-negotiable mandates of the California Labor Code. The Plaintiff asserted that the company’s internal policies and operational practices had resulted in the wholesale denial of fundamental labor rights to employees across the company. These practices allegedly caused significant underpayment of wages and a failure to protect workers’ statutory time away from work.
Injury
The alleged injury to the Plaintiff and the group of aggrieved employees was primarily financial. The complaint claimed that the workers suffered harm through unpaid wages, the loss of statutorily mandated premium pay for missed breaks, and the inability to properly verify their compensation due to inaccurate wage statements. This collection of injuries meant that the workers had not received the full, accurate, and timely compensation the law required.
Damages Sought
The Plaintiff sought broad financial relief, structured to recover direct losses and statutory penalties:
PAGA Civil Penalties: The largest component of the damages sought was for civil penalties under the PAGA statute. These penalties aimed to punish the company for its Labor Code violations against the entire group of affected workers. By law, 75% of these recovered penalties would go to California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency, while the remaining 25% would be distributed to the aggrieved employees.
Wages and Waiting Time Penalties: Ms. Jaramillo-Johnson sought recovery of all unpaid minimum wages and overtime wages, along with waiting time penalties, which California law applies when an employer fails to pay all final wages immediately upon an employee’s separation from the company.
Break Premiums: The suit claimed premium wages for all mandatory meal and rest periods that the company had either failed to provide or had interrupted, preventing employees from receiving their legally required time off.
Attorneys’ Fees and Costs: Finally, the Plaintiff sought to recover all reasonable attorneys’ fees and litigation costs, as authorized by California labor statutes for successful enforcement of wage claims.
Key Arguments and Proceedings
The litigation moved quickly from the filing of the complaint in January 2024 to its eventual settlement a year later in early 2025. The core of the case involved proving that the company's employment practices were system-wide failures, a claim the Defendant aggressively challenged.
Legal Representation
Plaintiff(s): Neena Jaramillo-Johnson (individually and as Representative for all Aggrieved Employees)
· Counsel for Plaintiff(s): Haig B. Kazandjian | Raffi Tapanian
Defendant(s): Logic Automotive Group, LLC
· Counsel for Defendant(s): Spencer W. Waldron | Kelsey L. Wong Javier
Key Arguments or Remarks by Counsel
The initial filings firmly established the deeply contentious nature of the lawsuit, with each side drawing lines around the legality of the Defendant’s employment practices.
Claims
The Plaintiff’s complaint contained a series of detailed claims that outlined a pattern of alleged non-compliance:
Failure to Pay Overtime and Minimum Wages: The suit asserted that the company had not accurately recorded or compensated all hours worked, which routinely resulted in employees working without receiving the legally required minimum wage or proper overtime rates.
Denial of Meal and Rest Periods: The Plaintiff claimed that employees were often forced to skip their mandated 30-minute meal breaks or 10-minute rest periods, or that the company did not fully relieve them of their duties during these breaks.
Inaccurate Wage Statements: The Plaintiff alleged that the itemized wage statements provided by the company did not accurately reflect the number of hours worked, the pay rates, or the premium payments due for missed breaks.
Failure to Timely Pay Wages Upon Separation: When employees separated from the company, the suit claimed that the final wages, including all accrued time and penalties, were not paid immediately upon termination or resignation, triggering additional penalties.
Defense
Logic Automotive Group vehemently denied all allegations when they filed their Answer in March 2024. The company set forth a series of affirmative defenses that argued they owed no damages to the Plaintiff or the group she represented:
Lawful Conduct: The Defendant maintained that all of its pay practices and employment policies complied with the California Labor Code.
Good Faith: The company asserted that any technical violations that had occurred were inadvertent, not willful, and the result of a good faith belief that their practices were lawful. This defense aimed to mitigate the hefty statutory penalties.
Voluntary Conduct: The defense suggested that the employees themselves had chosen to skip or cut short their breaks, thereby insulating the company from liability for those violations.
Offset: Logic Automotive Group claimed that if the Court found any money due, the company should receive an offset or credit for any wages or benefits it had already provided to the employees.
Settlement
The parties avoided a full trial and the uncertainty of a jury verdict by reaching a comprehensive resolution. Before the scheduled trial date, the attorneys negotiated a complete and final settlement of the entire case, including all individual claims and all representative claims brought under PAGA.
The Plaintiff's counsel formally notified the Court of the successful resolution by filing a Notice of Settlement of Entire Case on January 10, 2025. The parties agreed to a total payment of $212,675 to resolve all matters asserted in the complaint. This agreement closed the litigation against Logic Automotive Group, LLC, finalizing a multi-count labor dispute that had demanded over a year of legal maneuvering.
Court documents are available upon request at jurimatic@exlitem.com