Please go to NWRL's "News and Investigation" webpage to access the class action complaint against the Bohemian Club.
Bohemian Club and its camps rely on valets working off-the-clock for less than minimum wage and not reporting overtime. After a prior class action settlement, many Bohemian Club camps started using the same staffing service. It appears these camps are properly staffed and ostensibly observing California labor laws. Our class action seeks to represent the valets working at the other camps. These valets are commonly paid under-the-table for far fewer hours than actually worked.
Bohemian Club is banking on a legal fiction that valets are not their employees, but instead work for third-party contractors. In reality, Bohemian Club controls the essential terms of their employment and has even sent emails prohibiting valets from accepting tips. Prior to filing our complaint, we repeatedly asked attorneys for the Bohemian Club and the Monastery Camp whom they contend was our clients’ employer, but could not get a direct answer.
Our clients worked 15+ hour days at the Monastery Camp for sometimes three straight weeks. In 2018, all three clients were paid 100% under-the-table. In 2019, a catering company that served an adjacent camp was brought in to “hire” our clients and run the camp’s payroll. The former Treasurer of the Bohemian Club was the Camp Captain and told our clients to falsify their timesheets by reporting exactly 8 hours per day and no more than 40 hours per week. They believed this would be enough to “pass a sniff test” with this new third-party contractor.
Since filing this action, we have heard from valets for other camps that were also working off-the-clock and falsifying timesheets. We do not want to interfere with Bohemian Club members' right to enjoy privacy, seclusion, and outdoor fun in these exquisitely beautiful redwoods. Nevertheless, Bohemian Club and its camps need to pay its workers the right way. We are proud of our clients for bravely asserting their labor law rights and will zealously fight for this class of hardworking employees.
Please let us know if you have any questions. Nunes Worker Rights Law can be reached at (855) 4-CAL-LAW or tony@nunesworkerrightslaw.com