Kaiser Owes On-Call Enrollers, PAGA Lawsuit Claims
1-17-2019 00:23:00

     LOS ANGELES – Kaiser stiffed on-call enrollers for wages, breaks and business expenses, a woman alleges in a PAGA lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

     Dora Mendoza sued Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. for failure to compensate for all hours worked, failure to pay minimum wages, provide accurate itemized wage statements, pay wages when employment ends, pay wages owed every pay period, maintain adequate records, give rest and meal breaks and reimburse business expenses; labor code and business and professions code violations; retaliation and constructive wrongful termination, under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).
     “Plaintiff was hired as an ‘on-call enroller’ for Kaiser on or around Nov. 2016. Plaintiff officially started performing duties as an on-call enroller in Aug. 2017. Plaintiff’s job duties included giving presentations, answering questions, educating people about various different health plans and essentially promoting the Kaiser brand. Plaintiff would retrieve her assignments though a program called ‘salesforce.’ Plaintiff was an hourly, non-exempt employee and was paid $26.00 per hour. When plaintiff was first hired, she was expected to do her work (including trainings and communication with management) via her personal computer and personal cell phone (incurring data charges). Enrollers like plaintiff were given used iPads only recently, in Jan. 2018 and only later were given new iPads. Furthermore, there were absolutely no guidelines for training time and for time reporting,” the complaint states.
     Mendoza contends this arrangement caused her and other on-call enrollers to have to work off-the-clock, that they were not given legally-required rest and meal periods and that Kaiser should have reimbursed them for expenses they incurred to do their jobs.
     Dora Mendoza seeks unpaid wages, restitution, disgorgement, injunctive relief, an hour of wages for each work period of more than five hours when she did not get an uninterrupted 30 minute meal break, an hour of wages for each work period of more than four hours when she did not get a 10 minute rest break, general, special, consequential, punitive and liquidated damages, civil and statutory penalties, attorneys’ fees, costs, interest, waiting time penalties, and a jury trial. She is represented by Harout Messrelian in Glendale.