RBS Citizens Settles Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit

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RBS Citizens NA has reached a $3 million class action settlement resolving allegations the bank misclassified mortgage loan officers as exempt from overtime pay. The 10 plaintiffs who spearheaded the Citizens Bank overtime class action lawsuit filed a motion on Jan. 23 seeking preliminary approval of the deal, which they say is “fair and reasonable.”

Plaintiffs Cindy Ginter, Annemarie Rogers, Lisa Kaufman, Arthur Maxon, Erdine, Skelton, Dennis Hurley, Paul Gay, Lynne Duban, Jonathan D. Saxon and Patricia Haubrich were all mortgage loan officers for Citizens Bank, and filed their unpaid overtime class action lawsuit in 2012 when they realized they weren’t paid their due overtime.

“The proposed Settlement secures for the class and collective members significant monetary compensation for their claims and has been well-received,” the plaintiffs said in their motion supporting the class action settlement. “This is evidenced by the fact that no opt-in Plaintiff or Rule 23 Class Member objected to or requested to be excluded from the Settlement, and by the fact that 75% of the eligible Settlement Class Members are participating in the settlement.”

The unpaid overtime class action lawsuit was initially filed by Ginter, Kaufman and Rogers on Jan. 9, 2012.

“In their Complaint, the Originating Plaintiffs sought overtime premium compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (‘FLSA’) and the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (‘PMWA’) on behalf of themselves and similarly situated mortgage loan officers (‘MLOs’) employed by Defendant, alleging that they were misclassified as overtime exempt,” the motion states. “Defendant denied the allegations in its Answer to the Complaint, stating that it properly classified all MLOs as exempt employees under various exemptions to the state and federal overtime requirements (asserting the administrative, outside sales, retail sales, executive, professional, highly compensated, and combination exemptions).”

The court granted conditional certification of the class on Sept. 10, 2012. Shortly after the class certification, the parties agreed to stay the case deadlines and enter mediation in attempt to settle the class action lawsuit.

The class retained a mediator who was an expert in handing wage and hour issues. Gearing up for the mediation, RBS Citizens got to work. The company “produced certain payroll data to Plaintiffs’ counsel including: (i) the weeks worked and annual compensation amounts for the relevant statutory period for each opt-in plaintiff; and (ii) the weeks worked and number of potential Rule 23 class members for the states of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, Illinois, and New Hampshire for the prior three years. This data, combined with estimates of hours worked by the MLOs who had joined this litigation, allowed Class Counsel to create a damages model outlining Defendant’s potential exposure if the mediation was unsuccessful.”

A full day mediation session occurred on Feb. 12, 2013. Finally, a $3 million class action settlement agreement was reached, which will be distributed to all qualifying members of the class action lawsuit.

Settlement Details

In all, 576 employees are eligible for the RBS Citizens overtime settlement.

The agreement divides the $3,000,000 as follows, which is subject to Court approval: $2,198,239.13 will be paid to participating Settlement Class Members representing alleged unpaid overtime compensation. The lead plaintiffs in the case will receive $22,000 in enhancement awards  in recognition of their efforts on behalf of the class and their enhanced litigation positions.

About 25% of the total settlement amount, or $750,000, will be paid to Class Counsel for accumulated attorney’s fees; $19,760.87 will be paid to Class Counsel for out-of-pocket litigation costs and expenses; and $10,000 will be paid to the third-party claims.

Individual payments to employee Class Members will be based on the number of weeks they worked for RBS Citizens as a misclassified employee.

The case is Ginter, et al. v. RBS Citizens, N.A. d/b/a Citizens Bank, Charter One and CCO Mortgage, Case No. 12-cv-8, U.S. District Court, District of Rhode Island.

Do You Have a Wage and Hour Complaint?

Do you believe you’re owed money by an employer or former employer? Whether it was misclassification, “fixed” time cards or forced breaks without pay when that wasn’t legally an option, you might qualify for a wage and hour legal claim. Discover more at the Wage & Hour, Unpaid Overtime Class Action Lawsuit Investigation right now. After your information is submitted, an employment lawyer will contact you if you have a case for a free wage and hour claim review.