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Saturday, February 25, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - DNR employees get $3 million from suit

The Richmond Palladium-Item reports today:

The state of Indiana will pay a $3 million settlement to some current and former Department of Natural Resources employees to settle a class action lawsuit over payscales.

In addition, the settlement calls for a $400,000 aggregate salary adjustment for members of the class. Both amounts include applicable attorney fees and employee withholdings.

The adjustment in wages will begin April 9 and will show up in paychecks covering that date.

The class action lawsuit was initiated by employees in 1998 over the application of Public Law 70, which went into effect on July 1, 1996.

It called for a survey of state government classification systems and salary schedules for professional employees in the natural resources professions from nine states.

Based on that survey, the State Personnel Department was to prepare a classification system and salary schedule for professional employees of the DNR. Public Law 70 expired by its own terms on July 1, 2001.

The state has denied and continues to deny any wrongdoing with respect to the application of Public Law 70.

In 2003, the trial court granted the state's motion for dismissal, but plaintiffs appealed and the appeals court affirmed in part and reversed in part.

The case was sent back to the trial court. The state then filed a petition to transfer the case to the Indiana Supreme Court, but that action was stayed pending the settlement agreement that was reached Feb. 2.

"I am very pleased that we were able to reach a settlement with the current and former DNR employees that were members of the class," said DNR Director Kyle Hupfer in a press release. "This litigation had gone on for far too long and bringing it to a fair and reasonable conclusion allows the DNR to move forward with total focus on fulfilling its mission. This settlement allows the DNR to have a level of certainty with respect to fiscal management and allows the involved employees to focus on their work without the continued distraction of a lawsuit."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 25, 2006 12:14 PM
Posted to Indiana Government