Angelica Textile Services Inc., a company that provides medical laundry services and health care linen, has agreed to pay $3 million to resolve a class action alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The plaintiffs, a group of hourly employees, claimed that the company used an uneven rounding method for calculating wages that caused some hourly employees to not receive overtime pay.
As stated in the complaint, originally filed in July 2012, “Angelica followed a practice of rounding punch times to the nearest quarter hour increment and, if the original punch time would have resulted in a rounding upwards favorable to the employee, modifying the punch time so that the rounding was downward to the detriment of the employee. As a result of such uneven rounding practices, [the plaintiff] was not paid for all the hours he actually worked but was paid for substantially fewer hours than he actually worked.”
According to a report on Law360 (subscription required), the parties entered into settlement discussions and participated in mediation sessions in June 2013 and October 2013 respectively. In February 2014, the court granted preliminary approval of the settlement, and the parties reached a final agreement in August after agreeing to a few modifications. The settlement includes a class of plaintiffs seeking relief under the FLSA, and another class whose claims are based in California state law. The agreement applies to employees who worked for Angelica between July 2008 and February 2014.
The attorneys in Sommers Schwartz’s Employment Litigation Group have handled several similar wage and overtime cases. If you have questions about your rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act, contact us today to discuss your situation.
Jason J. Thompson
Jason Thompson is a nationally board certified trial attorney and co-chairs Sommers Schwartz’s Complex Litigation Department. He has a formidable breadth of litigation experience, including class action and multidistrict litigation (MDL), and practices nationwide in both state and federal courts.
