Papa John's Workers To See Payment From Unpaid Training Lawsuit

Santa Ana, CA (WorkersCompensation.com)-The Central District of California has been asked by Papa John's International to approve a $3.4 million settlement for wage theft lawsuit. The pizza chain allegedly failed to pay its workers for required training time.  Sofia Avalalos, was among the California Papa John's pizza delivery employees, and a proposed class of other hourly workers who were required to complete online training. The training taught them how to deliver and make pizzas, in addition to various other topics like greeting customers. 

In 2018, four Papa John's employees had filed an initial complaint alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act in New York and California.  At least 100 workers in total joined in the suit since the filing of the case.

Employees say that before clicking in or out, they would have to train, and were not paid for the time they had spent on the corporate training site.  According to court records obtained by WorkersCompensation.com the employees stated that this kind of practice was happening at other facilities nationwide. Workers also noted that Papa John's International knew or had reason to know that the training was being completed outside of their working hours. Also, since their total working hours had been undercounted, the sum of their minimum wage, overtime pay, and final wage statements was imprecise, they said.

In the motion where workers sought out certification, they stated, "Defendant will likely argue that any off-the-clock worked was a direct consequence of local rogue managers disregarding wage laws, therefore it had no knowledge of unpaid work. Nonetheless, the motive behind this head-in-the-sand defense is clear — Papa John's wants to avoid paying for online training performed on its website."

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