Bisnar Chase Files Motion for Class Certification against Coca-Cola

June 12, 2012 -- NEWPORT BEACH, California -- The employment attorneys at Bisnar Chase, Personal Injury Attorneys (/) and Arias Ozzello & Gignac LLP announced today they filed a motion for class certification against Coca-Cola on May 29, 2012 to certify a class of at least 3,373 current and former Merchandisers for failing to provide compliant meal periods and failing to reimburse them for business expenses incurred during the course-and-scope of their employment. The hearing on the motion is set for July 2, 2012.

The case against Coca-Cola, which operates roughly 27 branches throughout the state of California, was brought in September 2011, in California state court in Los Angeles, but was removed to federal court based on a motion filed by Coca-Cola under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

The proposed Class plaintiffs seek to certify consists of:All former and current Merchandisers who worked for Coca-Cola in one of its branches in the State of California (the "Class Members") during the period between September 7, 2007 to the conclusion of this action (the "Class Period").The Subclasses plaintiffs seek to certify are, among others, the following:

(a) Subclass 1:
All Class Members who worked shifts of at least six hours during the Class Period whose time records show no meal period was taken [the "MISSED MEAL-PERIOD SUBCLASS"].

(b) Subclass 2:
All Class Members who worked shifts of at least six hours during the Class Period whose time records show less than a 30-minute meal period [the "SHORT MEAL-PERIOD SUBCLASS"].

(c) Subclass 3:
All Class Members who worked shifts of at least six hours during the Class Period whose time records show a meal period after the fifth hour of work [the "LATE MEAL-PERIOD SUBCLASS"].

(d) Subclass 4:
All Class Members who were not reimbursed for all work-related non-commute mileage during the Class Period [the "NON-COMMUTE MILEAGE SUBCLASS"].

(e) Subclass 5:
All Class Members, who qualified for commute mileage under Defendant's Mileage Reimbursement Policy and Procedure, but were not paid commute mileage during the Class Period [the "COMMUTE MILEAGE SUBCLASS"].

"What differentiates this case from other class action wage-and-hour cases is that Coca-Colas own records establishes its liability," said Brian Chase, partner at Bisnar Chase. "Coca-Cola recorded every incident of a non-compliant meal period, including missed-meal, short-meal or late meal periods. Under California law, employers are required to pay premium wages when an employee is not provided a meal period. Coca-Cola lacked a policy of paying Merchandisers premium pay for meal period violations."

The California employment lawyers at Bisnar Chase and Arias Ozzello & Gignac LLP are seeking damages for premium wages for meal-period violations, unreimbursed expenses, and waiting time penalties for failing to compensate former employees within the Class Period for these unpaid wages.

About Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys

The Bisnar Chase Employment Attorneys represent people who have been the victims of employer abuse which includes wage and overtime claims, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, disability discrimination, work breaks, meal breaks, forced deduction from pay checks, expense reimbursement, travel expenses, uniform cost and upkeep reimbursement, breach of contract complaints and more. Bisnar Chase has won thousands of cases for regular people against big business, insurance companies and governmental agencies. For more information, please visit /.