Judge Gives Okay on $1M Overtime Pay for Drivers Settlement

In August, a $1 million settlement was given a preliminary okay by a federal judge in a lawsuit pitting chauffeurs against former and current employer, BostonCoach.

The settlement—once given final approval—will resolve allegations that the company failed to give overtime pay for drivers according to the stipulations of California state law.

According to a recent Law360 article, the class action overtime pay for drivers lawsuit was initiated by plaintiffs Mark H. and Robert B., who sought to represent a Class of chauffeurs that purportedly was quite extensive, numbering in the hundreds. The class period of the overtime pay for drivers case is retroactive to March 2014.

The portion of the settlement stipulated for recovered overtime pay for drivers will be split among chauffeurs in the Class based in BostonCoach locations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The Law360 report indicated that compensatory awards up to $5,000 each will be released to plaintiffs named in the lawsuit.

Another division of the $1 million proposed settlement of the overtime pay for drivers lawsuit include a controversial 28 percent to chauffeur’s attorneys, plus an additional $20,000 in costs.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw made a comment that this percentage is over the traditional 25 percent she typically sees in the Ninth Circuit, and additional costs have not been justified in documentation provided to her at the time of the preliminary approval.

Two final divisions of the $1 million lawsuit settlement between current and former driver employees of the limousine service and BostonCoach include a $10,000 payout to the settlement administrator, and an approximately $6,700 payout to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

The latter amount is for release of the worker’s Private Attorneys General Act claims. It is expected that a portion of that money will be returned.

Class Action Certification

Certification of a proposed Class is a major step toward securing a class action settlement. The central legal questions in a class action which must be answered include whether the alleged experiences of the initiating plaintiffs are like that of the proposed Class Members.

In this case, the operative question was whether former and current BostonCoach chauffeurs were denied appropriate overtime pay for drivers.

Another issue at hand is whether the Class is large enough. According to the Law360 report, Judge Sabraw indicates that the Class numbers in the hundreds, and to hear these cases individually would cause undo burden on the legal system.

Finally, fairness is a key issue in determining whether preliminary approval should be granted to an offered settlement of a class action. In the overtime for drivers lawsuit, going to court would be costly for both parties, and the chauffeurs would have to largely rely upon the strength of their numbers and word.

Because of a lack of written documentation substantiating their claims of being denied meal and rest breaks and overtime pay, the risks involved in going to trial and recovering little are great.

The judge set a date early in 2019 for final approval of the $1 million settlement. Attorneys for the drivers were happy with the outcome.

The Overtime Pay Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-00253, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

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