Hodge

DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US, Shand S. Stephens, San Francisco, Jon D. Meer, Los Angeles, and Eric S. Beane, for Real Parties in Interest.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Tom Greene, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Albert Norman Shelden, Assistant Attorney General, Ronald A. Reiter and Kathrin Sears, Deputy Attorneys General, as Amicus Curiae.

COOPER, P.J.

Many employees in the state of California, who work more than 40 hours per week and 8 hours per day, have the right to receive payment for their overtime work. ( Ramirez v. Yosemite Water Co. (1999) 20 Cal.4th 785, 789 , 85 Cal.Rptr.2d 844 , 978 P.2d 2 .) In a lawsuit alleging an employer violated the employee's right to receive overtime pay, the employer bears the burden of proving the employee's exemption. ( Id. at pp. 794-795, 85 Cal. Rptr.2d 844 , 978 P.2d 2 .) In this case, principally about overtime pay, the plaintiffs dismissed their statutory cause of action and allege only unfair competition in violation of Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq. (§ 17200 or the Unfair Competition Law (UCL)).

We must decide whether the defendants are entitled to a jury trial. We conclude no jury trial is warranted.…