Hutchinson Technology: Damages Awarded in Unpaid Wages Suit

St. Paul, MNA year-long bitter court battle between Hutchinson Technology and current and former employees of its production plants has reached a tentative settlement. The lawsuit was over alleged unpaid wages at Hutchinson Technology's Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin plants.

Approximately 5,600 production employees were involved in the lawsuit over unpaid wages. Under the settlement, which has been initially approved by the U.S. District Court in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the current and former production employees will be awarded from less than $1 to more than $1,200 each.

In the lawsuit, employees' attorneys alleged that workers were not paid for the time required to put on or remove protective gear at the beginning and end of each work day. The employees were allegedly not paid for the time it took them to put on and take off the protective gear for meal breaks. The plaintiffs in this case maintained that employees spent an average of 10-15 minutes each day putting on and taking off required protective gear such as hairnets, facemasks, smocks, latex gloves and beard guards. As this was time spent before clocking in and after clocking out, the practice allegedly resulted in unpaid wages to over 5,000 workers. Attorneys argued that the practice violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and certain Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota statutes.

Hutchinson Technology challenged the lawsuit, contending it had not broken the law. The company argued that the actual amount of time in question amounted to less than two minutes per work day. The legal battle was dragged out for over a year. The employees attorneys demanded that fair wages be paid for the amount of time needed to put on and remove the protective gear. Hutchinson Technology further argued that considerable flexibility had been granted to workers as to what time they would actually arrive to and depart from the work site. Because of this, the company contended that on several occasions, many employees were putting on and taking off the protective gear while already on the clock.

During the extensive litigation, the company was forced to produce thousands of pages of documents as evidence in the case. Experts on the side of the plaintiffs inspected the three production facilities in question and conducted hours of videotaped investigation at one of the three plants.

After a year of extensive litigation over the alleged unpaid wages, Hutchinson Technology and the plaintiffs in the case reached a mutually acceptable settlement. The settlement agrees to pay the employees in question for two minutes for each day worked, amounting to individual monetary awards of less than $1 to more than $1,200 each. The settlement also calls for attorney's fees and reimbursement for costs.

"We believe it's a fair settlement and in the best interests of all parties, and it represents extensive work and compromises on a variety of issues from both sides," said Connie Pautz, the company's communications director. Pautz also said that the company has made slight adjustments in its policies so that time putting on and taking off protective gear would no longer be an issue in terms of wages.