Google and UrpanTech to Pay $5.5M Unpaid Overtime Settlement

Google Inc. and staffing agency Urpan Technologies Inc., have been preliminarily approved by a California federal judge to resolve a putative class action lawsuit by paying a $5.5 million wage deal.

The wage deal settles allegations that the companies have violated CA wage and hour laws by failing to pay its contract recruiters overtime pay, according to the unpaid overtime settlement.

The California judge had said of the class notice for the settlement that it was good but had needed a slight bit of tweaking.

According to Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Brian C. Walsh, the class notice wrongly implies that the members of the class are required to hand in a written objection if they are to appear for the final fairness hearing on November 17 to object to the wage deal.

The judge says Class Members may in fact raise their objections in person at the hearing without submitting a written objection in advance, and that the class notice should be changed to reflect that fact. Judge Walsh said he would add this amendment himself to the settlement agreement.

The putative class action lawsuit was initially filed by plaintiff Tymuoi Ha, alleging that she had received a one-year contract to work as a contract recruiter through Urpan Technologies, Inc. for Google. UrpanTech is a staffing agency located in Silicon Valley.

However, according to the allegations, she was asked to not report any overtime hours worked over a capped overtime amount, although she had allegedly continued to work on weekends and more than 12 hours per more on weekdays.

She said she had complained to her manager at Google in January 2014. When she had done so, however, her manager had purportedly told her that there was nothing that could be done. She had been contacted by her manager’s supervisor at Google and was reportedly told that the grievances were unwarranted and inappropriate and that an apology was needed.

She was later fired.

Ha filed her overtime lawsuit later that month, proposing to represent all other contract recruiters.

According to the unpaid overtime settlement, regardless of the number of hours a contract recruiter had worked, Google’s policy was to limit the number and amount of overtime pay paid.

The unpaid overtime settlement maintains that contract recruiters are equal employees to Google and UrpanTech, and work in cooperation with Google employees while performing the same work.

Google and UrpanTech regulate their hours, working conditions, and wages, the overtime lawsuit maintains. However, although UrpanTech issues their contractors’ paychecks, Google determines the amount of overtime pay, making it subject to the policies rendered by Google and Google’s managers.

They had demanded an initial amount of up to $17 million due to the companies’ violations of business statutes, state labor laws, and unpaid overtime pay, according to the unpaid overtime settlement.

Individual claims demanded by the plaintiff had also been sought for violations of the Private Attorneys General Act, and unjust retaliation and termination.

The unpaid overtime settlement requires Google and UrpanTech to make a $75,000 payment to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, due to alleged PAGA claims.

Additionally, roughly 1.8 million will be paid for class attorneys’ fees and expenses, alongside $3.48 million to the class members for the unpaid overtime pay. Approximately, $4,380 will be paid to the 795 Class Members.

The Google UrpanTech Unpaid Overtime Settlement is Tymuoi Ha, et al. v. Google Inc., et al., Case No. 16CV290847, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Clara.

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