Settlement of Class-Action Suit Vs. BCD Tofu House

UPDATE: The settlement was finally approved on February 10, 2015.

On March 20, 2013, a class action lawsuit was filed by workers on behalf of all hourly employees (servers, cooks, busboys, etc.) against the owners and operators of the eight BCD Tofu House restaurants operated in California.

On January 15, 2015, the Court issued preliminary approval of a three million dollar ($3,000,000) settlement with the owners of the BCD Tofu House restaurants to settle the claims asserted in the class action.


Collectively, the lawsuit sought unpaid minimum wages, overtime wages, and other damages on behalf of the approximately 1,500 hourly employees who worked at one or more of the BCD Tofu House restaurants owned and operated in California and who experienced one or more alleged violations of California labor law, including:

(1) BCD Tofu House’s failure to pay minimum wages for all hours worked as a result of one or more of the following unlawful practices: (a) deducting money from employee’s wages supposedly for taxes but, instead, keeping the money for themselves and/or having the money that they deducted applied to their own tax obligations instead of the employee’s; (b) “rounding down” the amount of time the employee actually worked in a pay period; and/or (c) requiring employees to clock out at the end of their shift but continue to work for approximately thirty minutes to further clean and stock their stations, prepare for the next shift, as well as pool tips for redistribution, etc.;

(2) BCD Tofu House’s failure to pay all earned overtime wages;

(3) BCD Tofu House’s failure to pay employees one additional hour of minimum wage when the employee is required to work a split shift which is where the employee works more than one shift on a given day and the shifts are separated by more than one hour;

(4) BCD Tofu House’s failure to provide half-hour, uninterrupted, meal breaks during shifts in excess of 5 hours;

(5) BCD Tofu House’s failure to permit paid ten minute, uninterrupted breaks during shifts of 3.5 hours or more;

(6) BCD Tofu House’s failure to pay one hour of premium pay for each work day that an earned rest period is not permitted and/or a meal period is not provided;

(7) BCD Tofu House’s failure to pay the hourly employees all of their earned minimum wages, split shift wages, overtime wages, and premium pay at the time they are discharged or quit;

(8) BCD Tofu House’s failure to provide wage statements which accurately show all hours worked and all lawful deductions;

(9) BCD Tofu House engaging in Unlawful Business Practices; and

(10) Pursuing penalties on behalf of the employees under the Private Attorney General Act against BCD Tofu House.
The lawsuit sought unpaid wages and other damages on behalf of the non-exempt hourly employees who worked at any of the 8 BCD Tofu House restaurants operated in California at any time during the period of March 20, 2009 to December 31, 2014, who experienced one or more of the alleged violations of California labor law listed above.

The lawsuit sought unpaid wages and other damages on behalf of the non-exempt hourly employees who worked at any of the 8 BCD Tofu House restaurants operated in California at any time during the period of March 20, 2009 to December 31, 2014, who experienced one or more of the alleged violations of California labor law listed above.

California law provides that employees who are not permitted to take the meal and rest periods allowed under Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order No. 5 must be paid one additional hour of pay for each day that the rest periods are not permitted, and one additional hour of pay for each day that the thirty minute meal periods are not provided. Further, California law provides that employees are entitled to overtime for shifts worked in excess of 8 hours in a given day OR over 40 hours in a given week. California law require an employer to provide, at no expense to the employee, all equipment and materials required for the performance of their job, including but not limited to, name tags, badges, flashlights, shirts and jackets. Further, an employer is required to pay an employee all of their earned wages on the day they are discharged or within 72 hours, if the employee quits. Lastly, an employer is required to provide its employees wage statements which accurately record all earned hours and the monetary rates applicable to each hour worked.