Relying On Duran, California Court Of Appeal Upholds Denial Of Certification In Alleged Misclassification Action

The recent California Court of Appeal decision in Mies v. Sephora U.S.A., Inc., Case No. A139410 (1st App. Dist., Feb. 2, 2015) (unpublished) joins a growing number of cases finding the existence of uniform corporate policies, standing alone, is insufficient for class certification. Mies upheld the trial court's decision denying certification in a misclassification case alleging retail store "Specialists" were misclassified as exempt.

The putative class consisted of approximately one hundred Specialists employed at one of 47 California stores. Each location had a Store Director and between one and four Specialists who, together, were responsible for managing anywhere from ten to 45 subordinates. The plaintiff alleged that the common issue was "whether Sephora improperly classified the Specialists as exempt executives or administrators" and that this issue could be litigated on a class-wide basis based on allegedly uniform policies and other documents applicable to the Specialist position. Specifically, the plaintiff argued that the Specialist job description, in effect without change since 1999, could serve as common proof, along with a 2010 in-house survey of how Store Directors and Specialists spent their non-selling time. The plaintiff also argued, without promulgating any particular method of her own, that the trial court could use statistical evidence to determine liability on a class-wide basis. In addition, the plaintiff submitted declarations from Specialists attesting that they spent most of their time selling to customers on the sales floor rather than managing the store.

In opposition, the retailer presented evidence that the Specialists' duties varied among individuals and between different stores. The retailer's evidence included declarations from: (1) a District Manager attesting that company policies do not dictate everything Specialists do and that Specialists' work duties varied according to factors such as the size of the store, the number of Specialists at the store, their relative skills and experience, and the management style of the Store Director; and (2) a substantial number of Specialists who recounted the differences in their positions when working at stores of varying sizes, and attested to spending substantial amounts of time as the "Director in Charge" when the Store Director was out of the store. These Specialists reported that the amount of time they spent on managerial activities varied, but was always over...