Case: Wage & Hour/Preemption (Cal. Ct. App., 2d Dist.)

Summary judgment was improperly granted to United Airlines, Inc. in a Private Attorneys General Act lawsuit by a union represented mechanic who sought only civil penalties for United’s alleged violations of the meal break requirements of the California Labor Code, a California appeals court ruled. The trial court erroneously found that the lawsuit was preempted by the Railway Labor Act on the grounds that adjudicating the mechanic’s claim would require the court to interpret the parties’ collective bargaining agreement, the appellate court said. The mechanic is seeking only penalties on behalf of the state, not unpaid wages or other damages ...