Herrera v. Zumiez, Inc.

Docket: 18-15135

Opinion Date: March 19, 2020

Judge: Paez

Areas of Law: Labor & Employment Law

Plaintiff filed a putative class action alleging that Zumiez failed to pay employees at its California retail stores reporting time pay for "Call-In" shifts. The district court denied Zumiez's motion for judgment on the pleadings. While this appeal was pending, the California Court of Appeal decided Ward v. Tilly's, Inc., 243 Cal. Rptr. 3d 461 (Ct. App. 2019), review denied (May 15, 2019), which held that reporting time pay must be paid in a closely analogous situation, an outcome consistent with the district court's denial of Zumiez's motion for judgment on the pleadings here. The Ninth Circuit followed Ward's controlling interpretation of the law and affirmed the district court's judgment with respect to the reporting time pay claim. The panel also affirmed the district court's judgment as to the failure-to-pay-minimum-wage claim and the related remaining claims. In this case, the allegations were sufficient to defeat Zumiez's motion for judgment on the pleadings. The panel reversed as to plaintiff's claim for indemnification and remanded for the district court to allow plaintiff leave to amend the complaint to include more specific allegations. The panel remanded for further proceedings.