Mendoza v. Nordstrom: Cal. Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Wage Issues Certified by Ninth Circuit

In Mendoza v. Nordstrom, Cal Supreme Court Case No. S224611 (9th Cir,. No. 12-57130; 778 F.3d 834, Central District of California; 8:10-cv-00109-CJC-MLG), the Ninth Circuit certified three questions to the California Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed to review the issues, which are as follows:

(A) California Labor Code section 551 provides that ‘[e]very person employed in any occupation of labor is entitled to one day’s rest therefrom in seven.’ Is the required day of rest calculated by the workweek, or is it calculated on a rolling basis for any consecutive seven-day period? 

(B) California Labor Code section 556 exempts employers from providing such a day of rest ‘when the total hours of employment do not exceed 30 hours in any week or six hours in any one day thereof.’ (Emphasis added.) Does that exemption apply when an employee works less than six hours in any one day of the applicable week, or does it apply only when an employee works less than six hours in each day of the week? 

(C) California Labor Code section 552 provides that an employer may not ‘cause his employees to work more than six days in seven.’ What does it mean for an employer to ‘cause’ an employee to work more than six days in seven: force, coerce, pressure, schedule, encourage, reward, permit, or something else?

Mendoza is a putative class and PAGA action, so I've listed it under those categories on the blog.

The Supreme Court's web page for Mendoza is here. You can request automatic e-mail notifications from the Court here.