On June 17, 2022, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Three (Los Angeles), issued an opinion in Meza v. Pacific Bell Telephone Company (B317119, June 17, 2022) __ Cal.App.5th ___. In this employment class action, the appellate court addressed a number of issues, including appealability of the orders under the death knell doctrine and application of res judicata as to the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) claim. Importantly, the appellate court reversed the trial court’s order denying certification as to the meal and rest period claims where the employee’s theory of liability was based upon written guidelines (not verbal) despite the employer’s evidence that the written guidelines were inconsistently applied in practice.

In Meza, the plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit against his former employer, a telecommunications corporation. The plaintiff, a premises technician, alleged that his employer violated California law by failing to provide lawful meal and rest periods, failing to document hours worked, failing to pay overtime and failing to provide lawful wage statements. The plaintiff included causes of action under Business and Professions Code section 17200 and PAGA.

The plaintiff moved to certify six statewide classes of premises technicians, five of which pertained to the meal and rest period claims and one of which pertained to the wage statement claim. In support of certification of the meal and rest break...

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