Charter Communications announced that the cable MSO and the current and former employees who were plaintiffs in a wage and hour class action lawsuit have reached a settlement of all claims.
The case is Marc Goodell, et. al. v. Charter Communications LLC. US District Court Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin preliminarily approved the settlement on May 20, 2010. Charter now says the settlement, which remains subject to final approval by Judge Crabb, will fully resolve all of the plaintiffs’ and class members’ wage and overtime claims in exchange for the payment by Charter of $18 million.
The class covered by the lawsuit includes current and former employees who worked for Charter in certain field technician positions in California, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Nebraska during specified class periods. The plaintiffs alleged that the class was not adequately compensated for all of the work they performed.
Charter denies that it did anything wrong and that it is and has been Charter’s policy to pay its hourly employees for all hours worked.
“We settled this lawsuit to remove the distraction and expense that comes with preparing a case like this for trial. Our technicians are critical to providing a superior experience for our customers and we need them to be focused on what is most important – taking care of our customers,” said Greg Doody, Charter Communications’ Executive Vice President and General Counsel.
The named plaintiffs and participating class members are represented by Michael J. Modl of Axley Brynelson, LLP and Robert J. Gingras of Gingras, Cates & Luebke, S.C. “We believe that this settlement is fair and reasonable for the class as a whole,” said Gingras.
Charter is represented by David Dunn of Hogan Lovells US LLP and Barbara A. Neider of Stafford Rosenbaum LLP.
