California Courts Limit Derivative Wage Statement Claims

A common tactic for plaintiffs bringing wage and hour claims is to tack onto those claims an inaccurate wage statement claim under California Labor Code § 226. Here's an example: A plaintiff brings a claim alleging that she was not paid overtime; she brings a second claim alleging she was provided inaccurate wage statements because the wage statements she was issued do not reflect the overtime wages she should have been paid. The benefit of this tactic is the potential of recovering $4,000 per employee as well as an award of costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

The California court of appeal threw cold water on this strategy, and the California Supreme Court recently refused to disturb the court of appeal's ruling in Maldonado v. Epsilon Plastics, Inc., 22 Cal.App.5th 1308 (2018). In that case, the class of employees alleged they weren't paid overtime owed, and as a result, their wage statements were inaccurate. The trial court agreed, concluding that even though