Takeaway: The evidence showed that a store owner's girlfriend never actually worked in the owner's store, despite her claims to the contrary, and so she was not entitled to the back wages she was seeking in her wage and hour lawsuit.
Although she claimed she worked at her former boyfriend's reptile store for two and a half years, the evidence showed that the plaintiff in a wage and hour lawsuit against the store was never actually a store employee, so she was not entitled to back wages, a California appeals court recently ruled.
The plaintiff and the defendant/store owner were involved romantically from sometime in 2016 until August 2019. During that time, the defendant operated three stores, which sold reptiles and supplies. His brother co-owned the stores and was also named as a defendant. The three stores are in Garden Grove, Downey and Long Beach, Calif.
After the plaintiff's relationship with the store owner ended, she filed an action for unpaid wages. The plaintiff testified at trial that she worked for the defendants from January 2017 until August 2019. She typically worked full days at the stores, beginning at 11:00 a.m. or noon and finishing at about 8:00 p.m. Her work included cleaning animal cages, purchasing supplies and assisting customers. She worked approximately 30 hours per week in 2017, and approximately 15 hours per week in 2018 and 2019. The only compensation she ever received during the approximately two-and-a-half years she worked for the defendants...
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