CONTACT: Eric Bailey, CAOC Communications Director, (916) 669-7122,
J.G. Preston, CAOC Press Secretary, (916) 669-7126,
The following statement is from the Consumer Attorneys of California:
Consumer attorneys support the rights of businesses. As business owners ourselves, it’s in our best interest that businesses and business owners are treated fairly. All consumer attorneys ask is that corporations, large and small, play by the rules – and that they are accountable when they don’t.
There is no “explosion” of civil litigation in California:
· A report by the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts found that the number of personal injury lawsuits known as torts is half what it was a decade ago.
· Class action cases are a fraction of a fraction – less than one-half of one percent – of all unlimited civil filings.
The one exception to that trend – the state’s 314% increase in employment class action filings from 2000 to 2005 – reflects an increase in the number of suits from 29 to 120. That is hardly an explosion of litigation. The greatest bump came after 2003 when, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts, a number of widely-publicized suits claiming meal, break, and overtime violations were filed against Wal-Mart in many states, as well as in federal court. The success of those lawsuits elsewhere led to claims in California based on the section of the labor code that requires employers to provide meal and break periods under certain circumstances. When the law is broken, lawsuits follow.
SB 988 would undermine the eight-hour day by allowing employers to potentially force employees to work ten hours straight without paying overtime. Couched in terms of “flexible” work schedules, it could unfortunately permit unscrupulous employers to force ten-hour schedules on employee who fear losing their jobs if they do not agree to an employer who “suggests” a “flexible” schedule.
SB 990 gives employers the right to “suggest” employees forgo meal breaks under some circumstances. Employees who rightly fear losing their jobs are especially vulnerable to less-than-scrupulous employers who might coerce workers into waiving their rights. Meal and rest periods provide critical workplace protections, and California’s business climate benefits from a healthy, safe and rested work force. That is why the Legislature adopted strong protections to ensure that employees take their breaks.
Focusing on the number of filed lawsuits misses the point. When businesses discriminate against employees, manufacture and sell unsafe products, poison our air and water, expose unwitting Californians to hazardous materials, or hoodwink investors out of their retirement savings, victims are left with few remedies but to seek justice through our civil courts.
Consumer Attorneys of California is a trade organization for plaintiffs’ attorneys that defends the 7th Amendment right to trial by jury in civil matters and works to maintain access to the legal system for all Californians.