LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION
Office Depot Reaches Overtime Class Action Settlement
This is a settlement for the Employment lawsuit.
New York, NY: A 350,000 settlement in an overtime class action lawsuit pending against Office Depot Inc. has been granted preliminary approval and the plaintiff has filed a motion seeking final approval. "The settlement in this case, reached after lengthy and hard fought litigation, is fair, adequate and reasonable,"the motion states.
Brought by an Office Depot employee I 2011, the lawsuit alleged the office supplies retailer failed to factor bonus payments from an incentive program into the calculation of workers' regular rate of pay when determining overtime. In so doing, the lawsuit claimed that the office supply chain violated California labor law.
Specifically, the Bravo Program rewarded top-performing employees by entering them in a monthly lottery with a $50 prize, which was added to winning employees' paychecks, according to the lawsuit. However, the retailed failed to include the bonus payments from the award program into the regular rate of pay of employees who earned these awards during a period in which they earned overtime.
The lawsuit claims that because Office Depot didn't include these payments in its overtime calculations, the company failed to pay all overtime wages owed to Bravo Award winners, failed to provide accurate wage statements to Bravo Award winners, engaged in unfair competition and failed to pay terminated Bravo Award winners all the wages owed to them at the time of termination.
According to the terms of the settlement, Office Depot will pay $350,000 to resolve claims among a class comprised of California Office Depot workers who received Bravo Award payments between January 2007 and September 2012 and who worked overtime in the month preceding the month in which they received their award payment.
Further, a subclass of the settlement includes employees who began working for the company after January 2008 and whose employment was stopped prior to September 2012.
If approved, the final settlement will provide each class member with a share of $9,000 apportioned to them according to the relative percentage of Bravo Award payments they received during the class period.
After the $9,000 payments, administration expenses, attorneys' fees and costs, a $5,000 award to Provine, payroll taxes and a payment to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency are deducted from the $350,000, the remaining amount will be divided equally among the members of the subclass, according to the plaintiff's motion.
Published on Oct-14-13
Brought by an Office Depot employee I 2011, the lawsuit alleged the office supplies retailer failed to factor bonus payments from an incentive program into the calculation of workers' regular rate of pay when determining overtime. In so doing, the lawsuit claimed that the office supply chain violated California labor law.
Specifically, the Bravo Program rewarded top-performing employees by entering them in a monthly lottery with a $50 prize, which was added to winning employees' paychecks, according to the lawsuit. However, the retailed failed to include the bonus payments from the award program into the regular rate of pay of employees who earned these awards during a period in which they earned overtime.
The lawsuit claims that because Office Depot didn't include these payments in its overtime calculations, the company failed to pay all overtime wages owed to Bravo Award winners, failed to provide accurate wage statements to Bravo Award winners, engaged in unfair competition and failed to pay terminated Bravo Award winners all the wages owed to them at the time of termination.
According to the terms of the settlement, Office Depot will pay $350,000 to resolve claims among a class comprised of California Office Depot workers who received Bravo Award payments between January 2007 and September 2012 and who worked overtime in the month preceding the month in which they received their award payment.
Further, a subclass of the settlement includes employees who began working for the company after January 2008 and whose employment was stopped prior to September 2012.
If approved, the final settlement will provide each class member with a share of $9,000 apportioned to them according to the relative percentage of Bravo Award payments they received during the class period.
After the $9,000 payments, administration expenses, attorneys' fees and costs, a $5,000 award to Provine, payroll taxes and a payment to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency are deducted from the $350,000, the remaining amount will be divided equally among the members of the subclass, according to the plaintiff's motion.
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