DHL Express Reaches $1.45M Wage and Hour Class Action Settlement

DHL Express has agreed to settle a wage and hour class action lawsuit for $1.45 million. The settlement brings a close to claims that the shipping and delivery service purposely underpaid workers by reporting time and wage statements inaccurately.

According to the wage and hour class action lawsuit, the workers’ shift time was rounded in the company’s computer timekeeping system and did not accurately reflect their exact hours.

Furthermore, the lawsuit also accused the company of failing to meet minimum wage requirements for the lead plaintiff and the for the rest of the class members.

“The [labor laws] furthermore protect employees from exploitation by employers who may seek to take advantage of their superior economic and bargaining power in setting onerous terms and conditions of employment,” read the lawsuit.

According to plaintiffs involved in the wage and hour class action lawsuit, there are around 1,125 DHL employees, both current and former, that will be eligible for receiving a portion of the wage and hour settlement money.

While eligible employees would get different amounts of the wage and hour settlement money depending on how much they worked, class members with an average of 150 workweeks would receive $750 of the settlement money.

According to plaintiffs of the wage and hour class action lawsuit, DHL had no extra meal breaks for employees clocking shifts of over 10 hours. While the company claims that these employees chose to forgo a second meal break, the plaintiffs disagree.

The $1.45 million wage and hour settlement is much lower than the class counsel’s maximum estimation of $4.6 million, but still agreed that the settlement was a fair amount.

“In the experience of class counsel, an all-cash settlement of $1,450,000—with no reversion—in a wage and hour class action with approximately 1,127 class members is well within the ‘ballpark’ of what is a fair, reasonable and adequate settlement,” said the counsel.

The wage and hour class action lawsuit was originally filed in December 2013, and moved to federal court in February 2015.

Filing a Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit

While there are a number of wage and hour laws in place to protect workers, many people do not know the rights that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) grants them.

Some workers may not file wage and hour lawsuits because they do not know about FLSA rules, and others might be afraid that there will be consequences in their workplace for speaking up about failure to meet these laws. However, laws are also in place to protect workers from this sort of unfair discrimination.

If you or someone you love has worked for an employer such as DHL that has failed to adequately follow the wage and hour laws from the Fair Labor Standards Act or state labor laws, you may be able to join a wage and hour class action lawsuit, or file a lawsuit of your own.

The DHL Express Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Jorge A. Mejia et al. v. DHL Express (USA) Inc. et al., Case No. 2:15-cv-00890, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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