Charter Communications announced today that it has settled a wage and hour class-action lawsuit for $18 million.
Two years ago, roughly 8,000 former and current employees who said they were not paid for all of the time they worked sued Charter.
The lawsuit pertained to field technicians who were assigned a company vehicle and who kept the vehicle overnight at their homes after March 15, 2005.
The lawsuit said that Charter did not pay the field techs for tasks such as loading and unloading vehicles, as well as travel time.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. On May 20, U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin preliminarily approved the settlement.
The settlement, which remains subject to final approval by Judge Crabb, will fully resolve all of the plaintiffs’ and class members’ wage and overtime claims in exchange for the payment by Charter of $18 million.
The lawsuit included current and former employees who worked for Charter in certain field technician positions in California, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Nebraska during specified class periods.
Charter said it has been its policy to pay its hourly employees for all hours worked, and it denied any liability under the settlement.
“We settled this lawsuit to remove the distraction and expense that comes with preparing a case like this for trial. Our technicians are critical to providing a superior experience for our customers, and we need them to be focused on what is most important – taking care of our customers,” said Greg Doody, Charter Communications’ executive vice president and general counsel.
