Settlement Accepted In Aydin FLSA Case

January 8, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A $4.1 million settlement has been approved by a federal judge for 83 employees of communications company Aydin Corp who alleged unlawful overtime compensation, according to a report by The Legal Intelligencer.

The class action suit, Oral v Aydin Corp, alleged Aydin violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by incorrectly classifying the employees in question as exempt from overtime pay requirements.   Additionally, these employees, regardless of being classified exempt, would still be subject to salary reductions for any time missed during the business day.   The terms of the settlement will pay the 83 employees of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania-based Aydin amounts ranging from $1,468 to $193,936.


Included in those employee seeking a settlement are several former vice presidents, a former in-house lawyer and the former director of human resources.   Aydin claims that while the docking of pay was occurring for lower-level management employees, it did not occur for those upper level employees that joined in the suit.

“While it cannot be disputed that there is evidence that Aydin did engage in a practice of docking certain salary-exempt employees for their partial-day absences, those docked or subject to being docked were in each instance below the level of director,” said Larry Rappoport of Stevens & Lee, the firm representing Aydin.

“There is no evidence that employees within the higher levels of management and classified as director, assistant vice president, vice president or executive vice president level were docked or subject to an actual practice of partial-day docking,” continued Rappoport.

The $4.1 million settlement amounts to $2.8 million after the withdraw of applicable attorney fees.   Employees with claims for less than $25,000 will be paid 100% of their lost overtime pay, while those with larger claims will be paid between 73% and 93% of their claim, according to the report.

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