Santa Clara, CA: A preliminary $2.7 million settlement has been reached in an California labor law class action lawsuit pending against Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. The complaint was brought by story employees in California who claimed the company failed to pay hem for the time it took to do required bag checks at the end of employee shifts.
Specifically, the complaint, filed by former Ulta employee Sarah Moore in March 2012 on behalf of a proposed class of non-exempt Ulta employees, alleged they were subject to required bag checks anytime they had to leave the store for a rest break, meal break or at the end of a shift. The proposed settlement includes an estimated 8,250 store employees who were considered non-exempt workers at the salon and beauty products, which operates about 69 stores in California. They would have worked at the chain from March 2, 2008, to the date the court grants preliminary approval or January 27, 2017, whichever date comes sooner.
If approved, the settlement would resolve claims brought under the California Labor Code that Ulta failed to pay overtime, compensate for all hours worked, pay wages due upon discharge or provide required meal or rest breaks to workers due to the mandatory exit inspections, also referred to as bag checks and donning and doffing.
According to court papers, some Ulta stores made employees clock out before getting their personal bags inspected. Other workers claimed the time it took to wait for a general manager to walk to the front of the store to perform the check would eat into their meal break time, which in some cases was as little as 30 minutes.
This settlement follows a $3.65 million preliminary class action settlement reached earlier this year, between Ulta' and about 230 store managers in California, who alleged they were misclassified as being ineligible for overtime.
The case is Sarah Moore v. Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc., case number 2:12-cv-03224, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
