Settlement Accepted In Aydin FLSA Case
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.