Daily Sound
In a lawsuit filed last week in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, two former KEYT Channel 3 employees alleged the company committed a string of labor code violations, including failure to pay overtime.
The lawsuit seeks class action status, and attorneys for the two plaintiffs, Carolyn Ann Diacos and Darren Andrew Penquite, said the suit could impact as many as 60 current and former employees at the station.
The lawsuit details eight alleged violations, which range from failure to pay overtime wages and lack of meal periods and rest breaks, to a failure to provide accurate wage statements.
But a key element of the lawsuit accuses KEYT managers of directing employees to misrepresent hours worked in order to reduce overtime costs.
An example cited in the suit says employees were instructed to enter eight hours of work, and note a one-hour unpaid lunch break on their time sheets, regardless of whether they had taken a break. More…