Courts OK RadioShack OT Class Action Settlement

November 21, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.COM) - Three federal judges have approved an $8.5 million class-action suit settlement between retailer RadioShack and store managers who were demanding overtime pay.

RadioShack and the lead lawyer for some of the managers confirmed the settlement to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, according to the paper’s news report.

The court approvals finalized a conditional June 2006.settlement reached between the Fort Worth-based electronics retailer and more than 4,000 current and former store managers.

The company said in a regulatory filing that it recorded preliminary settlement charges of about $8.8 million in the second and third quarters of 2006 and expected to distribute the settlement payments in late 2007 or early 2008.

In August, RadioShack said legal costs of about $8.5 million contributed to a net loss of $3.2 million, or 2 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2006, the company’s first loss in seven years, according to the newspaper.

The managers initially went to court in 2002, claiming that the company misclassified them as employees exempt from overtime pay. In 2005, a federal judge in Chicago ruled that some RadioShack managers were entitled to overtime pay because they didn’t supervise at least 80 hours of work by at least two full-time employees at least 80 percent of the workweek. The 80/80 rule established a legal standard now used in other overtime suits nationwide, Thompson said.

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