Ma Labs Wage and Hour Class Action

Case name: Guang Tian, et al. v. Ma Laboratories, Inc. et al.
Case type: Wage & Hour
Filed in: [Superior Court of the State of California (Santa Clara County)]
Docket: [Case No.: 1-11-CV-195373]

Case Summary

On February 28, 2011, Sanford Heisler Sharp filed a Class Action Complaint against San Jose (Ca.)-based computer parts distribution company Ma Laboratories, Inc. (“Ma Labs”) on behalf of a class of non-exempt employees.

The Complaint alleged, among other violations, that Ma Labs engaged in pervasive time-shaving whereby it wrote off and refused to pay employees’ pre-shift and post-shift overtime and failed to provide its employees off-duty, uninterrupted rest and meal periods, as required by California law. The workers were mostly Chinese and Latino immigrants, many of whom spoke limited English and were working for minimum wage, trying to support families.

On October 9, 2014, the Santa Clara Superior Court certified a class of approximately 600 on claims including unpaid overtime. As the judge’s order noted: “[E]ven those who are waiting for instructions in the morning are clocked in and subject to Ma Labs’ control/suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so. Under Plaintiffs’ theory, this still constitutes ‘hours worked’ for purposes of compensation, and the necessary findings can be made from the timekeeping alone.”

On August 11, 2015, the Court gave final approval to a voluntary class settlement of $2.85 million.