Court Relies on Dr. Deborah Foster’s Analysis in Denying Class Certification in California Wage & Hours Case

Dr. Deborah Foster was retained by the defendant in a wage and hour case, Mkhitarian v. Bank of the West, in which employees at branches of a California bank alleged that their employer violated California law by “failing to pay them for all hours worked, missed, short, late, and/or interrupted meal periods and/or rest breaks.” 

Dr. Foster led an Edgeworth team in analyzing issues related to plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. She demonstrated that the opposing expert’s analyses were founded on inaccurate assumptions, misinterpreted the underlying data, failed to provide evidence of a common policy or practice of denying compliant meal periods, and did not inform the Court regarding the rounding claims.

Dr. Foster submitted an expert report in Superior Court of California. In its ruling, the Court relied on both Dr. Foster’s analysis and her critique of plaintiffs’ expert’s analysis, in denying plaintiff’s motion to certify a class.