Betancourt

FACTS

Defendants are OS Restaurant Services, LLC and Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. They are the owners or operators of a Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles. Plaintiff Raquel Betancourt worked there as a server from 2008 through 2015. 1. The Complaint In August 2016, plaintiff sued defendants. The complaint alleged defendants regularly failed to give plaintiff her full uninterrupted rest periods, and that defendants wrongfully terminated plaintiff in retaliation for her making internal complaints that defendants violated wage and hour laws and food safety laws. Plaintiff alleged she saw a chef using a vegetable cutting board to prepare raw chicken, and reported the incident to her manager, but defendants ignored her report. Three months later, plaintiff informed Tiffany Yeargin, defendants’ senior human resource business partner, that one of the chefs routinely used vegetable cutting boards to prepare raw chicken, and that employees were regularly denied their 10-minute rest periods. Immediately following plaintiff’s complaints to Ms. Yeargin, defendants’ managerial employees began to

3 retaliate by “highly scrutinizing Plaintiff’s performance” and…