It’s Time: Time Warner Cable LLC Agrees to $1.25 Million Settlement

Los Angeles, CAIt appears as if the time has come for defendant Time Warner Cable and a putative class of employees to settle up, now that Time Warner has agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle allegations from call center employees that the media juggernaut failed to pay them minimum wage and overtime, as required under California state labor laws.

In agreeing to the settlement, Time Warner Cable accepts no wrongdoing or liability in the matter. The announcement was made December 23, two days before Christmas.

According to court documents, the original California labor lawsuit was brought in June of 2010 and filed initially in California state court. The case was moved to federal court a month after that.

Various violations to California labor code have been alleged by the putative class, which represents call center employees who worked for Time Warner Cable from June 2006 through April 2015. Those allegations include failure to pay minimum wages and overtime pay as required under California and labor law, failure to pay wages as identified and entrenched in a contract - and subsequent breach of contract - failure to pay final wages in a timely manner, and failure to provide itemized wage statements.

All allegations suggest a violation of California labor employment law.

According to court documents related to the settlement, various monies will be paid out as costs and fees related to the case, with the net settlement dollars then made available to putative class members, based upon the number of weeks they worked while the alleged violations to California labor employment law were at play.

Once all claims by the putative class are honored, anything that remains in the settlement fund up to 65 percent having gone unclaimed by the putative class reverts back to Time Warner Cable, or so court documents suggest.

“Although defendants contend that they have no liability in this case, defendants’ counsel shares class counsel’s belief that the settlement represents a fair and adequate settlement given the risks associated with the litigation,” the stipulation reads. “The parties will work together expeditiously to obtain preliminary and final approval of this agreement and to dismiss this action with prejudice.”

In an aside, legal teams on both sides of the dispute were taken to task by US District Judge Andrew J. Guilford for e-mailing updated versions of the joint stipulation, rather than filing the documents according to normal protocols. It is not known if the “shortcut” was initiated due to the close proximity to the yuletide.

The California employee labor lawsuit is Nercia Gillings et al. v. Time Warner Cable LLC et al., Case number 2:10-cv-05565, in the US District Court for the Central District of California.