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Saturday, March 14, 2009

Ind. Courts - More on: State workers lawsuit for back pay during 1973-1993 period begins

Updating this ILB entry from March 10th, the Indianapolis Star has this brief item today:

A Marion Superior Court judge won't issue a ruling until at least next month on a case brought by former state workers who say they were underpaid for 20 years.

Judge John Hanley heard evidence over four days during this week's trial, which ended Friday. He asked attorneys for the plaintiffs and the state to submit proposed findings by March 31.

The lawsuit contends that as many as 15,000 state employees worked 40-hour weeks from 1973 to 1993 but received the same pay as others in similar jobs who worked 37.5 hours. The plaintiffs' lawyers estimated total unpaid compensation at $42 million to $81 million.

Remember, this case was settled once, with a contingency, as pointed out in the March 10th ILB entry:
On Aug. 19, 2008, the ILB had a lengthy entry headed "Indiana OKs $8.5 million payout to some state workers," reporting on a $8.5 million preliminary settlement reached on the day the lawsuit was scheduled to go to tria in Marion Superior Court. There was one caveat, as set out in the Star story from Aug. 19th:
According to Kautzman, if the calculated total amount exceeds $8.5 million, the state can back out of the settlement and resume trial or pay off the remainder. A tentative hearing is scheduled for mid-October [2008].
But, as the Star pointed out in the March 10th ILB report:
A settlement agreement announced in August [2008] later was abandoned by the state after compensation claims exceeded its $8.5 million threshold, said John Kautzman, the attorney for several plaintiffs.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 14, 2009 09:01 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts