WAGE LAWYER

Catching up with employee labor lawyer, Karl Gerber, was difficult. First, he traveled between multiple offices throughout California. Then, I realized he appeared in courts across the state. Finally, once a multi-plaintiff wage and hour arbitration was done he found time for this article.

Initially Gerber met four phlebotomists in his Riverside office. There was a fifth but she was a present employee so she dropped out of the case because she feared retaliation. These employees signed an arbitration agreement which prevented them from proceeding as a class action. Gerber knew this when he took the case, but believed the employees had been wrongly denied the opportunity to take meal or rest breaks. They also worked off-the-clock without pay.

Utilizing the Private Attorney General Act Gerber filed a second action in court for PAGA penalties. The California Supreme Court has ruled PAGA actions are not beholden to arbitration. The PAGA trial is set for May and will involve all California facilities of West Pacific Labs. In the PAGA action Gerber was allowed to send questionnaires to the other phlebotomists who worked for West Pacific Labs. A number of phlebotomists from West Pacific Labs responded to the questionnaires indicating they suffered the same labor abuses as Gerber's clients. Below is a picture of how the arbitration room looked on a break.