PATRIOT ENVIRONMENTAL EMPLOYEE CLASS ACTION, SAN DIEGO, CA

The Employment Lawyers Group has brought a class action against Patriot Environmental to recover unpaid wages and related penalties because Plaintiffs were on restricted standby otherwise known as on-call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, but were not paid for every hour they made themselves available to work for Defendant while they were on restricted on-call.

If certified as a class action the lawsuit filed on July 31, 2015 will encompass all Patriot Environmental employees who worked as emergency technicians and drivers from July 31, 2011 to the present at the following facilities:

1. 3464 Pickett Street San Diego, California 92110;
2. 250 S. Hallock Drive Santa Paula, California 93060;
3. 969 Carrier Way Bakersfield, California 93308;
4. 3628 Smith Avenue Acton, California 91350;
5. 508 East E. Street Wilmington, California 90744;
6. 1840 East Elm Street Ontario, California 91761;
7. 4171 E. Therese Fresno, California 93725;
8. 255 Parr Boulevard in Richmond, California 94801.

Our law firm presently represents nine former and present Patriot Environmental employees in this case. We have also spoken to additional employees and believe California Labor Code Violations have occurred.

Contact Lead Attorney, Karl Gerber at (619) 320-3000 if you have any questions about the Patriot Environmental Putative Class Action filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court July 31, 2015.

ALLEGATIONS OF LABOR CODE VIOLATIONS AGAINST PATRIOT ENVIRONMENTAL

Some of the facts the proposed class action lawsuit against Patriot Environmental are based upon include:

The hours non-exempt technicians and drivers were not paid but were on-call for must be compensated for at a minimum of minimum wage because:

1. There were extensive geographical limitations on the Plaintiffs' movement during each 24 hour day seven days a week while they worked for Defendant. Plaintiffs were expected to report to the yard they worked out of within approximately 30 minutes from when they received the on-call, call. They were not allowed to live very far from the yard. The employees were suspended (Dallas Cerda was suspended) , yelled at, or not assigned work for a period of time as punishment if they failed to respond to a call by appearing at the yard within approximately 30 minutes regardless of what time of the day it was or what day of the week it was. There are many examples of this. On one occasion when Tower traveled from the Murietta, California (in Riverside County) to Long Beach to feed a family member's dog his yard manager told him he was not paid to feed dogs notwithstanding the fact Tower did not receive any pay for being on call 7 days a week 24 hours a day. Camacho was told to stay home and he was not assigned work because he failed to answer an on-call when he was in the shower. Some of the Plaintiffs were fired for missing an on-call, call;
2. The fact calls might come in at any given hour of a twenty four hour period was not a theoretical question. Plaintiffs routinely got calls at each hour during a twenty four hour period and found themselves constantly having to rush to these calls. There are numerous examples of Plaintiffs abandoning what they were doing to make the call such as Dallas Cerda had to leave in the middle of church, and cancel dates in the middle of them. After experiencing these situations Plaintiffs desisted from making plans involving others, plans requiring the payment of an admission fee, or leaving the geography of their homes and Defendant's yard they were assigned to;
3. It was not possible to trade the on call assignment;
4. The Plaintiffs' lives were unduly restricted when they were not on the clock. They could not drink alcohol because the prospect of them having to drive the company truck, drive to the yard, operate equipment, and otherwise maintain a high level of alert to do their type of work always existed;
5. There were severe repercussions for refusing an on-call call, or not coming to the yard fast enough after hearing about the call, including, but not limited to, those examples specified in sub-paragraph a;
6. Plaintiffs were told by the Ontario Manager this is an on-call job, AIf you don't like it leave;
7. Plaintiffs had to always have their gear bags with them because they could be called to an on-call, call;
8. Plaintiffs were specifically told not to make plans because there would be calls the next day they would have to respond to on-call, but no specific time was given.

Contact our San Diego Labor Lawyers at (619) 320-3000 if you have any questions about unpaid wages

PATRIOT ENVIRONMENTAL FAILED TO PAY FOR TIME BETWEEN JOBS

Patriot Environmental technicians were not paid for time between jobs, calls, and their normally scheduled four hours a day or eight hours a day. Often they were told to go back to the yard and wait once one job ended, but they were not paid for this.

EMERGENCY TECHNICIANS WERE NOT PAID FOR ALL TIME WORKED

The Plaintiffs in this lawsuit allege Defendant=s supervisors have a uniform practice of not always paying the Plaintiffs for the actual hours they work, but rather supervisors/management declared start and stop times for jobs which are less than the actual hours worked and paid the Plaintiffs based upon those false start and stop times.

PATRIOT ENVIRONMENTAL WORKERS ALLEGED MEAL BREAK VIOLATIONS

The technicians and drivers at Patriot Environmental claim when they were on jobs they did not get 30 minute uninterrupted meal breaks before the expiration of their fifth hour of work, or rest breaks every four hours of work.

WHAT SPECIFIC LEGAL VIOLATIONS ARE ALLEGED IN THIS CLASS ACTION

The labor practices alleged in the proposed class action against Patriot Environmental include the following legal theories:

1. CALIFORNIA MINIMUM WAGE VIOLATIONS
2. CALIFORNIA OVERTIME/DOUBLE TIME VIOLATIONS
3. DAMAGES & RELIEF UNDER CALIFORNIA CONTROLLED STANDBY LAW AND/OR REPORT TIME LAW
4. COMMON COUNTS FOR REASONABLE VALUE OF SERVICES
5. CALIFORNIA LABOR CODE ' 201-203 VIOLATIONS
6. LABOR CODE ' 226 VIOLATIONS
7. MEAL BREAK VIOLATIONS
8. REST BREAK VIOLATIONS
9. CALIFORNIA BUSINESS & PROFESSIONS CODE 17200 VIOLATIONS

Please contact our employee law firm at (619) 320-3000 if you worked as a technician, driver, or other employee of Patriot Environmental and experienced any of the labor violations described in this post. It is our practice to speak to as many similarly situated workers and prospective class members as possible.

We have offices near the following Patriot Environmental locations: San Diego, Tustin, Riverside, Ontario, Sherman Oaks, Gardena, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.