A cemetery counselor has reached a settlement in her wage-and-hour lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in which she alleged she and her fellow employees were shortchanged on wages as well as meal and rest breaks.
Attorneys for plaintiff Cecilia Estrada and the archdiocese informed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Laura A. Seigle of the accord on Friday, but no terms were divulged. The judge scheduled an April 1 hearing to consider final approval of the settlement.
Estrada filed the proposed class-action complaint last March 21, alleging multiple state Labor Code violations, including unpaid overtime and missed meal and rest breaks. Estrada worked for the archdiocese from October 2021 until November 2023 as a cemetery counselor at Queen of Heaven Cemetery & Mortuary in Rowland Heights.
According to the suit, Estrada and other cemetery employees had work off-the-clock without compensation, were not paid for all hours worked, were not given all their meal and rest breaks, were not paid all wages due when terminated and were not fully reimbursed for business expenses paid for with their own money.
The archdiocese ` knew or should have known” that Estrada and the other cemetery employees were working more than their regular paid hours because cemetery management “witnessed, authorized, was made aware of and/or required” them to perform such work, the suit alleged.