News Notes: Ninth Circuit Rejects Overtime And Mail Fraud Claim

Yokohama Tire Corp. employee Christopher Miller sued under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), the federal organized crime statute, charging Yokohama conducted a fraudulent scheme to deny employees overtime. Miller claimed high-ranking Yokohama employees falsely told him and other workers they weren’t entitled to overtime pay because they were salaried, and that every time Yokohama sent employee paystubs by U.S. mail or made direct deposits to employee accounts by wire, it committed mail or wire fraud. In ruling that Miller failed to state a claim for actionable fraud, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal said it was rejecting Miller’s attempt to “transform a California state law wage and hour claim into a federal RICO claim.”