Washington Wage-and-Hour Class Action Filed Against Crunch Pak, LLC

A new class action lawsuit highlights common wage-and-hour issues in the food manufacturing industry across Washington State. The lawsuit against Crunch Pak, LLC, which manufactures and distributes packaged snack foods from its facility in Cashmere, WA, alleges the company failed to properly pay its non-exempt, hourly employees.

According to the complaint, staffing conditions and scheduling demands regularly prevented forklift operators and other production employees from taking legally required meal and rest breaks. Employees allegedly worked through their meal and rest periods to meet the company’s production requirements and were not compensated with the additional premium pay owed for missed breaks.

The complaint also alleges that employees were required to clock out and continue performing work “off the clock,” that the company failed to pay proper overtime for hours worked over 40 in a week, and that it failed to properly accrue and allow the use of paid sick leave. The lawsuit further claims these violations were willful and part of a company-wide policy — including a cap on hourly wage payments regardless of actual hours worked and paystubs that did not accurately reflect all regular and overtime hours — rather than the result of clerical error, and that the company failed to pay all wages owed upon employees’ termination.

The case seeks to proceed as a class action on behalf of current and former non-exempt, hourly employees of Crunch Pak, LLC in Washington State from three years prior to filing through final resolution.