California ‘Client Employer’ Wage Law Set for Ninth Circuit Test

Strawberry producers and farmworkers who harvested fruit for tenant farmers that subleased land will argue before the Ninth Circuit that the deeper-pocketed producers should be held liable as “client employers” for alleged wage-and-hour violations.

The workers say that Better Produce Inc. and Red Blossom Sales Inc., who didn’t employ them directly, are client employers under a California law and should be liable for unpaid wages and premium pay for missed breaks. Their dispute, set for argument Friday before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, could clarify state wage-and-hour liability across industries and has drawn outside support ...