Are Recycling Sorters Owed a Prevailing Wage?

When the California Supreme Court affirmed an appellate decision in late March 2021, California Justices confirmed that recycling sorters are owed a prevailing wage. 

Details of the Case: David Kaanaana et al. v. Barrett Business Services Inc. et al.

Court: California Supreme Court

Case No.: S253458

The Defendant in the Case: 

The Defendant in the case is a company supplying sorters at a sanitation district-owned Los Angeles recycling facility. The Defendant argued that the governing Depression-era statute was only applicable to construction work and that the law did not expand the type of work the prevailing wages requirement covered (as found in Section 1720(a)(2). 

The Plaintiff in the Class Action: 

The plaintiffs in the case were California workers that filed suit against Barrett and their former manager on behalf of belt sorters in general that were employed at two different locations of the Los Angeles County Sanitation District No. 2 between April of 2011 and September of 2013. The class of workers insisted they were owed a prevailing wage per the state Legislature’s 1937 enactment of the Labor Code.  The Code incorporated provisions of a 1931 Public Wage Rate Act in the newly codified Public Works Chapter. And workers, in direct opposition to Barrett’s argument, insisted that the law covers more than construction work. 

An Overview of the Case:

In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Carol Corrigan, the high court pronounced that Barrett Business Services Inc.’s interpretation of the state statute wasn’t adequate, and that the law (in effect since the late 1930’s) intended to include additional types of work outside of construction and installation work (as in the 1931 uncodified version). At trial, the court granted Barrett’s motion to strike the prevailing wage allegations. However, the state court of appeal reversed the ruling. Justice Corrigan disagreed with Barrett’s arguments that the law applied only to construction work, instead stating that the covered district provision provides a definition depending on the governmental district for which work is performed rather than the type of tasks performed on the job.

If you have questions about California labor law violations or how employment law protects you against labor law violations, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.