California Judge Approves IT Overtime Lawsuit Settlement

San Jose, CAA California judge recently gave his preliminary approval of a $5 million settlement to end an IT overtime lawsuit.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">In 2006, a total of 152 technical writers who worked for Sun Microsystems sued the company, challenging its policy of classifying such workers as professionals exempt from California's overtime laws, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Specifically, the workers were denied overtime pay and were not paid during meal breaks.

Attorneys for the writers, who produce technical documents and information manuals, claimed that state laws expressly made them eligible to be paid for overtime and during meals.

Since the lawsuit was filed in 2006, a number of technology companies, including Oracle Corporation, have modified their policies to allow technical writers to receive overtime pay.

The plaintiffs will each receive an average of approximately $21,000 from the settlement. The exact amount will be determined by the number of hours each worker worked and how long he or she had been with the company, according to lawyers for the writers.

Oracle bought Sun for $7.4 billion this past February.