A former Ste. Michelle Wine Estates worker filed a class-action lawsuit alleging widespread wage violations at the company, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in federal court.
A newly filed collective and class-action lawsuit accuses Ste. Michelle Wine Estates of failing to pay overtime, withholding wages, and denying legally required meal and rest breaks for hundreds of hourly workers across Washington and the United States.
The complaint was submitted in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on behalf of Michael Pedersen, a former maintenance employee who worked at the company’s facility in Patterson from 2018 to 2025.
Pedersen claims he and other non-exempt hourly workers were routinely required to work more than 40 hours a week without receiving overtime pay.
He also alleges workers were frequently interrupted during breaks, directed to continue working while clocked out, and expected to perform maintenance and respond to management requests during meal and rest periods.
According to the lawsuit, those tasks included servicing bottling-line machines such as cappers, fillers, rinsers, corkers and packing equipment.
The complaint states that employees were required to remain on duty during breaks, making meal and rest periods “on-the-clock in practice but not in pay,” and that the company failed to provide second meal periods during shifts longer than 11 hours as required under Washington law.
The lawsuit argues that these break interruptions resulted in unpaid work time counted neither toward wages nor toward workers’ overtime totals.
Pedersen alleges the company “willfully” withheld wages, did not pay all wages owed when employees left the job, and failed to keep accurate time records because break-time work was not recorded.
The lawsuit also claims the company’s practices were applied across job sites in Washington and Oregon, affecting “hundreds” of non-exempt workers. Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, the largest winery operation in the Pacific Northwest, is headquartered in Woodinville and operates vineyards and wineries across the region.
Pedersen is seeking unpaid wages, overtime, penalties, double or treble damages allowed under Washington law, and attorneys’ fees.
He is also requesting class-action certification for all hourly Ste. Michelle employees in Washington from the past three years and a nationwide collective action for all non-exempt hourly workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
KIRO 7 News has reached out to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates for comment.
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