Atria will ‘vigorously defend’ position as wage claims move forward as class action lawsuit – News

A spokesman for Atria Senior Living said the Louisville, KY-based company will “vigorously defend itself” after a federal court ruled that a group of community sales executives in California can act as a certified class on wage and hourly claims.

At the center of the complaints are allegations that Atria wrongly classified the sales managers as field workers and exempted them from overtime pay as well as from eating and rest breaks.

An Atria spokesman told McKnight’s Senior Living that the court’s decision was a “preliminary decision that reduced the size of the class but did not determine the merits of the case itself”.

“We believe that we have followed California law in our grading of sales jobs and will vigorously defend our position,” said the spokesman. “As this litigation is ongoing, we have no further comment.”

George Stickles and Michele Rhodes filed the labor lawsuit against Atria Senior Living and Atria Management Co. on December 18, 2020. Employment was between December 18, 2016 and December 31, 2019.

U.S. District Court judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California upheld the class on December 27, 2021 but shortened the timeframe to September 29, 2019 and reduced the number of potential members in the class from more than 100 to about 50. Alsup decided that the classification problem could be solved by examining shared evidence about the work duties and terms of employment of employees. The evidence includes Atria’s corporate policies, job descriptions, and employee testimony under Bloomberg Law.

Atria owns 46 senior citizen and assisted living communities in California.

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