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Brinker ruling raises questions about break-related lawsuits

DALLAS Brinker International Inc. said a California Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that a wage-and-hour lawsuit against the Chili’s Grill & Bar parent could not proceed as a class action because of the court’s interpretation of meal and rest break requirements. The court determined that Brinker was only obliged to “make available” meal and rest breaks to employees, not to “ensure” they were taken, the company said. The ruling could have profound implications for other restaurant employers in California, where a number of employee groups have sued over alleged violations of break regulations.

The appellate ruling in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court of San Diego County would effectively disallow the inclusion of an estimated 63,000 former and current Brinker employees as co-plaintiffs in a still-pending case against the company over alleged violations of state law governing meal and rest breaks. The class was certified by a Superior Court judge in San Diego two years ago.

In 2002 Brinker agreed to pay $10 million to settle a similar complaint by California's Department of Labor. Numerous other wage-and-hour cases in the state have sought to extract large damage awards from employers that lacked documentation their workers had received mandated breaks.

Brinker is pleased with the ruling that “the trial court should not have certified a class in this case, and agrees with Brinker's understanding of the legal standards for providing meal and rest breaks,” said Roger Thomson, executive vice president and general counsel for the Dallas-based casual-dining giant. He added, “We look forward to the case’s return to the trial court for action on the remaining individual issues.”

Brinker’s other restaurant brands include On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, Maggiano’s Little Italy and Romano’s Macaroni Grill, which the company is trying to sell.

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