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October 31, 2011 – In a victory for Southern California warehouse workers, a federal judge in Los Angeles today issued a temporary restraining order requiring three Inland Empire warehouse employers that service retail giant Wal-Mart immediately to begin complying with state and federal payroll recordkeeping and disclosure laws.
Judge Christina Snyder of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued her ruling in a class action lawsuit filed on October 17, 2011 by six low-wage warehouse workers against Impact Logistics, Rogers-Premier Unloading Services, Premier Warehousing Ventures, and Schneider Logistics. Judge Snyder found that the workers are likely to prevail on their claims that Impact, Rogers-Premier, and Premier are violating California and federal law by failing to pay warehouse workers legally required wages for all hours worked, failing to keep accurate records of the workers’ hours and piece rate production, and failing to disclose to the workers basic information regarding their hours worked and rates of pay.
Judge Snyder also concluded that the workers would suffer irreparable harm without immediate injunctive relief, while defendant employers would "suffer no hardships other than those associated with bringing their recordkeeping procedures and paycheck information into compliance with state and federal requirements – costs that defendants should already be incurring." Judge Snyder stated in her 12-page ruling that the employers’ recordkeeping and disclosure violations enable them to "conceal critical pay information" from plaintiffs, and create "a substantial risk that plaintiffs will not be paid in accordance with law. Because plaintiffs are low-wage workers, and lost wages or delays in compensation threaten or impair their ability to meet basic needs, such harms are irreparable."
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