Stickles v. Atria Senior Living, Inc.

Background

George Stickles and Michele Rhodes worked as Community Sales Directors (CSDs) for Atria Senior Living, Inc. and Atria Management Company, LLC. The defendants operated 46 senior living communities in California. CSDs were paid flat salaries and commissions, but were not paid overtime or provided meal or rest breaks because Atria classified them as exempt outside salespersons.

Stickles alleged violations of California overtime, meal-break, and rest-break laws, along with related wage-statement and waiting-time claims. Rhodes signed an arbitration agreement and dismissed her individual and class claims; she continued only with a representative claim under California’s Private Attorneys General Act. The order therefore used “plaintiff” to refer only to Stickles.

Stickles sought certification of a class of California CSDs whom Atria classified as exempt and who did not sign arbitration agreements. The court limited the proposed period to the beginning of Stickles’s employment through September 29, 2019, because Stickles was not employed as a CSD when Atria updated the CSD job description on September 30, 2019.

Class-Certification Analysis

Class certification is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. The court found that the proposed class satisfied the requirements of numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy under Rule 23(a), as well as predominance and superiority under Rule 23(b)(3).

The court explained that California’s outside-salesperson exemption depends on whether an employee customarily and regularly spends more than half of working time away from the employer’s place of business selling items or obtaining orders or contracts. Under California law, the inquiry focuses on the realistic requirements of the job, including how employees actually spend their time and the employer’s realistic expectations.

The court found sufficient common evidence to decide the classification issue on a class-wide basis. That evidence included company-wide rules about work schedules, inquiry responses, sales-call targets, tours, activity reporting, and workday structure. It also included uniform training, supervision, compensation plans, procedures for responding to inquiries and conducting tours, and evidence that other employees completed lease documents after CSDs secured move-in commitments.

The court also relied on data from Atria’s common activity database and an expert’s analysis of that data. Although the database did not track the number of hours CSDs worked, the court concluded that the lack of time records did not prevent certification because the company-wide policies and common evidence addressed the realistic requirements and uniform experiences of the CSD position.

Ruling and Effect

The order certified a class of CSDs who did not sign arbitration agreements and whom Atria classified as exempt outside salespersons from the date Stickles began working for Atria through September 29, 2019. Certification applies only to the issue of whether Atria properly classified CSDs as exempt outside salespersons. Certification of the overtime, meal-break, rest-break, wage-statement, and waiting-time claims was held in abeyance.

Judge William Alsup appointed George Stickles as the class representative and Hayes Pawlenko LLP as class counsel. The parties were ordered to file a proposed class notice, distribution plan, and opt-out timeline within two weeks.