By Dustin Gardiner | Arizona Republic
Steve Gaynor has a favorite talking point on the campaign trail: Don’t let Arizona become “a mess like California.”
Gaynor, the Republican candidate for Arizona secretary of state, has repeatedly blasted what he sees as the Golden State’s excessive and nightmarish regulations for business owners.
His disdain for California labor laws may come from personal experience.
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Gaynor paid more than $134,000 in 2014 to settle a class-action lawsuit filed over allegations that he underpaid workers at a printing plant he owns near Los Angeles, according to court records.
The case resulted in 42 employees receiving settlement payments from his company, which averaged about $805.
In the lawsuit, a worker alleged that he and others were underpaid for overtime work because Gaynor’s company had an “unlawful” practice of shifting pay period dates to evade pay for overtime work.
Gaynor denies the allegation and said the case was settled due to a burdensome regulation for lunch breaks.
Workers claim they were underpaid.
