$4.9 Million Settlement Approved for California Prevailing Wage Compliance Lawsuit

San Francisco, CA While various guidelines in the California labor code cover a wide swath of regulations governing wage and labor issues in the state, the California Prevailing Wage Law provides more specific guidelines and requirements for construction, installation and other projects that fall within the purview of public works.

To that end, a class-action lawsuit filed some time ago by six workers claiming they were not paid prevailing wages and were denied other benefits as required under the California Prevailing Wage Law, has ended with the approval of a multimillion-dollar settlement that will see roughly 533 class members receive about $5,000 each.

The lawsuit, filed in April of 2011, centered on the alleged non-compliance of defendant SimplexGrinnell LP, a division of Tyco International Ltd. Six laborers were hired to install fire alarms and other work for SimplexGrinnell under a public contract - which thus would trigger the need for compliance liability within California Prevailing Wage Law.

However, the plaintiffs claimed in their lawsuit they were not paid per diem wages, overtime or benefits as required under the Prevailing Wage law.

The defendant’s “acts and omissions in this regard are willful and not in good faith, and are without reasonable grounds for believing that the alleged acts and omissions are in compliance with the California Prevailing Wage Law,” the suit said.

The law requires employers with public contracts to pay workers the general prevailing wage rate for the work, as determined by the California Department of Industrial Relations. In addition to regular pay and overtime, the prevailing rate includes health benefits, pensions and vacation.

In early September, US District Judge Jon S. Tigar gave final approval to the settlement, worth $4.9 million. Satisfied that the settlement was “fair, reasonable and adequate,” Judge Tigar noted that the court recognized “the value to class members of defendant’s agreement to change its pay practices and pay prevailing wages for testing and inspection work, with payment retroactive to January 2015,” Judge Tigar wrote, noting no class member objected to the settlement. “This factor favors approval, which offers immediate and certain recovery to class members.”

It’s been reported the two sides in the California Prevailing Wage compliance lawsuit reached a tentative settlement last November. Judge Tigar gave his preliminary blessing in April of this year, before finally signing off on the agreement just last month.

The case is Bennett et al. v. SimplexGrinnell LP, Case No. 3:11-cv-01854, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.