Mies

Eva Vidal Mies seeks to bring a class action against her former employer, Sephora U.S.A., Inc. (Sephora), on behalf of employees who, like her, worked as “Specialists” in Sephora’s California retail stores. Mies claims Sephora misclassified Specialists as exempt from certain provisions of California labor law and, as a result, failed to pay overtime wages and failed to compensate them for missed meal periods. However, after crediting evidence that all Specialists do not engage in the same tasks to the same extent, the trial court denied class certification, concluding individualized issues, not common ones, would predominate the determination of liability. We conclude the trial court used proper legal criteria in assessing class certification and substantial evidence supports the trial court’s findings. We therefore also conclude the court did not abuse its discretion in denying class certification.

Factual and Procedural Background

Sephora operates 47 retail cosmetics stores in California. Each store has a “Store Director,” who runs the store, and one to four Specialists. Specialists manage “Cast Members” (sales associates) and “Leads” (lead consultants, floor leads,…