Holiday Retirement last week won approval from a California District Court for a $2.2 million settlement of claims deriving from an ongoing employee wage suit.
Under the class action settlement—claiming to have affected nearly 14,000 workers—employees of Holiday Retirement in California will receive an average payment of $543, while employees in other states will receive $70, according to court documents.
The decision from U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin is the latest motion from the case, Bautista v. Harvest Management Sub LLC, filed in September 2012 by former employee Delfino Martinon Bautista.
Bautista alleged Harvest Management, which does business as Holiday Retirement, violated the Federal Labor Standards Act by failing to include all forms of incentives pay when calculating an employee’s regular rate of pay. As a result, Bautista claimed to be underpaid all of his required overtime wages.
The suit also alleged that Harvest violated California law by maintaining an “unlawful rest break policy” by providing its employees with “one 15-minute paid rest period for every 4 consecutive hours worked,” as opposed to providing “10 minutes net rest time per four hours,” according to court documents filed in September.
In his approval of the settlement, Judge Olguin also rewarded Bautista $660,000 for attorneys’ fees.
“The settlement falls within the range of possible approval as fair, adequate and reasonable, appears to be the product of arm’s-length and informed negotiations, and treats all members of the Settlement Classes fairly,” the motion for settlement approval stated.
This is the second settlement regarding employee wages for Holiday within the course of a year.
In November, a separate California Central District Judge approved a $7.5 million settlement—separate from last week’s announcement—of a 2012 class action lawsuit, which alleged the company failed to accurately pay community managers and co-managers for overtime work.
Written by Jason Oliva
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