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Friday, March 29, 2024

Former AT&T employees settle class action for $1.05 million

Rosenfelddavid

OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - Former California employees and AT&T have settled a lawsuit alleging the cell phone company violated sections of the California Labor Code.

Class members are those who worked at AT&T as a retail sales consultant and/or a sales support representative in California at any time between July 7, 2010, and Jan. 13.

AT&T failed to provide suitable seating under California Labor Code Sections 1198 and 2698.

George Gallardo, Carlos Barragan, Kyle Binns, Carlos Cruz, Jennifer DeWitt, Hector Rodriguez and Denise Roman and AT&T agreed on a settlement sum of $1.05 million, according to settlement documents filed Sept. 4 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Class counsel is seeking an award of attorneys' fees and costs in the amount of $75,000, to be paid out of the settlement sum

Gilardi & Co. will receive no more than $50,000 for administration of the settlement.

The remaining amount after deduction of the cost of administering the settlement and attorney fees and costs is the net settlement sum, according to the settlement document.

"Pursuant to statute and subject to Court approval, 75% of the net settlement sum, or $693,750, will be remitted to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency with the remaining 25%, $231,250, distributed to class members who do not exclude themselves from the settlement."

The plaintiffs are not seeking any class representative enhancements, according to the settlement document.

"Distribution to class members is based upon the number of weeks they were employed in an RSC or SSR position in California from July 7, 2010 through January 13, 2014," the document states. "Any class member who began working in a represented position after July 7, 2010, will have three weeks deducted from their total eligible weeks to account for the time spent in initial training in a classroom setting where seating was not an issue."

Payments made to class members from the net settlement sum will be treated as payments in settlement of a disputed claim for civil PAGA penalties and will be paid without employment tax withholdings.

The lawsuit was first filed Aug. 19, 2011, in the Superior Court of California-Alameda County. It was removed to federal court on Sept. 23, 2011.

The plaintiffs claimed they were not provided with seating, which violated California labor laws.

The plaintiffs are represented by David A. Rosenfeld and Roberta D. Perkins of Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld.

AT&T is represented by Matthew C. Kane, Michael D. Mandel and Sylvia J. Kim of McGuire Woods LLP.

The case is assigned to District Judge Claudia Wilken.

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number: 4:11-cv-04749

From Legal Newsline: Kyla Asbury can be reached at classactions@legalnewsline.com.

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