Gabriel v. Verizon Communications

In Gabriel, et al. v. Verizon Communications, et al., Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, along with co-counsel Hinton, Alfert & Sumner, represented three Sales Representatives of Verizon Directories Sales-West, as representatives of a class of Account Representatives and Telephone Sales Representatives throughout California on wage and hour claims based on Verizon’s method of calculating incentive compensation payments due to sales employees.  Verizon reduced commissions in two ways that we contended were unlawful under the California Labor Code: (1) by “charging back” against incentive compensation revenues lost when a customer fails to pay for or renew its yellow pages advertising account with Verizon, or (2) when the company gives credits to customers for business reasons.  These charges were made against sales representatives even when the source of the charge was brought as a class action in the Superior Court of Orange County and was certified as a class action on February 14, 2006. In 2008, on the eve of trial, the case was settled for $5.55 million.