In a recent case, a California court said that there was a triable issue of whether a company provided suitable seating to its customer service employees at the front of the store by placing seats at workstations in another area.
In Meda v. Autozone, Inc. et al., the plaintiff worked as a sales associate at an AutoZone auto parts store for around six months. Her duties included operating the cash register, assisting customers at the parts counter, answering their questions, finding the parts they needed, cleaning the store, stocking shelves, and moving around merchandise.
The plaintiff resigned and filed a claim under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) against her former employer, AutoZoners. She said that AutoZoners failed to provide suitable seating to employees at the cashier and parts counter workstations, as Industrial Welfare Commission wage order No. 7-2001 required.
The plaintiff alleged the following: first, she spent around 40% of her time by the cashier, where she could do all her work while seated; and second, she spent about 40% of her time at the parts counter, where she could perform roughly half of her tasks while sitting down.
In response, AutoZoners filed a motion for summary judgment. The company claimed that it satisfied the seating requirement. A management action plan provided that the store should have at least two stools available as needed. The trial court granted AutoZoners’ summary judgment motion.
The California Court of Appeal...
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