Atria Senior Living has agreed to pay $1.3 million in a wage and hour class action settlement over its alleged misclassification of community sales directors as outside salespeople, but the company denies any wrongdoing.
The settlement covers 69 community sales directors in Atria’s California properties who claimed that the company did not properly pay for meal and rest breaks, as well as overtime. US District Court Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California approved the settlement on Wednesday.
“We continue to believe in the correctness of our position and vehemently deny these allegations,” an Atria spokeswoman told McKnight’s Senior Living on Friday. “However, we chose to settle the suit in order to avoid lengthy and costly legal proceedings that would have served as a distraction from our main focus: providing the best experience in senior living to our residents.”
George Stickles and Michele Rhodes filed the labor lawsuit against Atria Senior Living and Atria Management Co. in 2020. The sales directors were successful in certifying a class of former and current employees in December 2021, covering community sales directors employed at Atria’s California properties between April 9, 2018, and Sept. 29, 2019.
According to the settlement, reached in February and finalized Wednesday, Atria denies any liability or wrongdoing and asserts that the company complied with California laws and did not engage in any unfair or unlawful business practices.
The company previously said it would “vigorously defend” itself against the claims.
Along with the wage and hour claims, the complaint also alleged violations of California’s labor code and sought civil penalties under the Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA. The PAGA penalties are included in the settlement and apply to 65 of the sales directors covered in the class action suit who were employed between Jan. 17, 2020, and May 2, 2020.
Atria owns 46 senior living communities in California.
