Pinkerton Settles $1.35M Wage Class Action in California

Case Background

A major labor lawsuit against the international security and risk management firm, Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations Inc., concluded in February 2025 with a Court-approved settlement. The case, which two former employees, Mario Arredondo Jr. and Miguel Rivera, originally filed, focused on wide-ranging allegations that the company had systematically failed to pay its hourly security and investigations staff correctly under California's strict labor laws. Filed in the San Diego Superior Court, the action brought claims both as a class action on behalf of all affected employees and as a representative action under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).

Cause

The Plaintiffs asserted that the cause of their legal action stemmed directly from Pinkerton’s company-wide labor and payroll practices. They claimed the company designed and implemented systems that consistently prevented non-exempt, hourly employees from receiving their full legal compensation. This was not a claim of isolated errors; rather, the lawsuit alleged that the violations were uniform and widespread, impacting all hourly workers across the state.

Injury

The harm, or injury, to the employees was purely financial. The Plaintiffs and the rest of the class members claimed they had suffered measurable economic losses because the company did not pay them for all hours worked, including overtime, and failed to compensate them for legally mandated breaks they either missed or took late. This conduct effectively lowered their hourly rate, leading to accumulated unpaid wages. They also sought compensation for statutory penalties that state law imposes on companies for failing to issue accurate pay records or providing late final paychecks to workers who left the company.