UCLA Affiliate Graduate Student Workers Allege Misclassification

A UCLA-affiliated biomedical research center misclassified and underpaid at least three graduate research workers, according to a lawsuit filed in a California state court.

The workers filed three separate complaints against the Lundquist Institute For Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, claiming under California’s Private Attorneys General Act and other sections of state labor law that due to the misclassification as independent contractors, they were denied reasonable rest and meal breaks, weren’t paid properly for frequent overtime work, and received a monthly stipend without a compliant wage statement.

Leaders of the Lundquist Institute told the plaintiffs after they applied ...