California Herbal Remedies, Inc. v. Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, et al.

After under two months, commencing after Thanksgiving 2020 until separation just after Epiphany 2021, respondent Sara Perez held temporary employment with an essential business during the COVID-19 pandemic and brought a class action wage and hour complaint on April 15, 2021. That essential business, petitioner California Herbal Remedies, Inc., a licensed cannabis dispensary, typically employs marginalized workers who innocently earn a living wage out of public view, cloistered and monastic, while quietly celebrating their privacy protections afforded by the Federal and State Constitutions, as well as newly enacted California privacy statutes. As not any other employee presented a wage and hour claim, petitioner asked the trial court to authorize an “opt-in” class action notice because those others are unnamed, unidentified, and earn their wages within a violent and stigmatized environment. Petitioner argued an affirmative “opt-in” serves as a waiver of their existing privacy protection and written election to participate in the class action; it did so because the standard “opt-out” exposes them to violence and stigmatization for failure to respond to a single mailer. The questions presented are: 1. Does the “opt-out” class action notice procedure in a State, like California with Constitutional and statutory employee privacy protections, burden thirdparty employee privacy and substantially interfere with their First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendment privacy protections?