The Santa Cruz Seaside Company, owner and operator of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, will pay $5.9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging employees were cheated out of overtime pay and subjected to violations of California labor law, including being denied breaks.
As part of the settlement agreement, preliminarily approved by the court in September, the Seaside Company officially denied any wrongdoing.
A former employee, Serena Sanford, filed the lawsuit in July 2023 after working as a seasonal food-service staff member at the boardwalk from August 2016 to December 2021, according to court documents.
In the class-action lawsuit, Sanford accused the Seaside Company of failing to pay overtime wages, failing to provide meal and rest breaks and failing to provide timely payment of wages upon termination of employment, among other “unfair business practices.”
No other employees who were alleged to have been affected by what Sanford alleges were specifically named in the lawsuit.