SAN JOSE — A California federal judge recently approved a $3 million settlement between Angelica Textile Services Inc., a laundry company, and its hourly employees in a class action overtime pay claim. The laundry company’s hourly employees claimed the company failed to pay them overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and California state wage law. According to their claim, Angelica’s time system’s method of rounding employees daily times led to underpayment and loss of overtime.
Timekeeping
Albert Solorio, an hourly employee, filed his complaint against Angelica in July 2012. Angelica, which provides medical laundry services and health care linens, tracks its employees’ time using a punch system, having each hourly employee punch in and out at the beginning and end of their shifts. This system is typical for companies to employ. And Angelica used a rounding system that rounded the employees’ punch time to the nearest quarter hour. For example, if the employee punched out at 5:53, the system would round up to 6:00, giving the employee an additional seven minutes of work for the day. This is also a fairly common practice with punch systems. However, the problem for Angelica arose when the company allegedly altered the employees’ punch times if the rounding would have benefitted the employee.
The company would allegedly alter the punch time so that the system would round down. Using the previous example, the employee’s time would round down to 5:45, instead of up to 6:00, so the employee would lose 8 minutes of time worked. If this alteration and rounding down occurred on a regular basis at both the beginning and end of a shift, employees could lose substantial credit for their “hours worked.”
The Settlement & Process
Hourly employees who worked for Angelica between July 2008 and February 2014 will receive payouts from the settlement. Based on the terms of the settlement, around $2.2 million of the settlement will go directly to the class members in two separate classes. The two classes address each of the claims, the first addresses the FLSA claim and the second addresses the California state claim. Albert Solorio will receive a $7,500 enhancement award for his service as the named plaintiff.
To reach the settlement, the parties participated in mediation in June 2013 and October 2013. They submitted a settlement proposal to the court in February 2014. And, after making some modifications, the parties sought final approval in August, which it recently received.
Overtime claims may take time, but an experienced overtime pay attorney can increase your chances of success either through settlement or trial. Call our experienced team of overtime pay lawyers today at (855) 754-2795 to discuss your situation. Or complete the Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form on this page and our top-rated legal team will evaluate your case. There are strict time deadlines for filing lawsuits so it is important to contact an attorney immediately.