Charter agrees to pay workers $28.5M in class-action suit

Kevin Murphy
Correspondent
September 3, 2008

Charter Communications has agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought in federal court here by installers and other employees who claimed the cable company required them to work "off the clock."

The suit filed last year by Maurice James Sjoblom, of Beloit, alleged that Charter violated the federal Labor Standards Act by not paying him when he took home a company vehicle and was required to unload equipment from the vehicle, perform maintenance checks, fill out activity logs, reconcile equipment inventories, and reload the vehicle the next day.

District Judge Barbara Crabb granted class-action status to the suit earlier this year for an estimated 1,225 employees, of which 52 percent were Wisconsin residents. Class members were defined as those who worked for Charter in 31 occupations between Aug. 15, 2004 and at least March 10, 2008.

Crabb gave preliminary approval to the proposed settlement on Friday and set a Feb. 13, 2009 conference to address final approval.

According to the proposed settlement:

Charter will pay up to $24.5 million in cash and up to $4 million in settlement services, including costs in distributing the settlement to individuals, plus half of the costs of the settlement administrator.

Settlement payments to individuals will be based on their number of weeks of work.

Sjoblom will receive $50,000 for his investigative work on the suit and a $56,160 lump sum payment, which represents two years of his regular earnings as a Charter employee at $13.50 per hour. Sjoblom can also receive 18 months health insurance premiums from Charter. Sjoblom also agreed not to discuss any terms of the settlement with anyone except his father, attorneys or government official requesting information.

In exchange for the settlement, Sjoblom has agreed to resign from the company.

Plaintiff's attorneys including Robert Gingras and Michael Modl, both of Madison, can be awarded $8.422 million in fees. The attorneys and their associates reviewed more than 600,000 pages of documents from Charters 300 field system offices.

The settlement prohibited the attorneys from saying anything about the suit except that the proposed settlement is a "fair and reasonable settlement for the settlement classes," according to settlement documents filed in court.

Through a spokeswoman Charter said it was "reaffirming and clarifying," its policies in view of the suit but believe they are "fair and appropriate and in full compliance with applicable federal and state law."

"We settled the action to avoid the cost and distractions posed by this litigation which allows us to focus on our strategic priorities," said Anita Lamont, a Charter spokeswoman.

Charter gave certain employees the option of unloading equipment at an office at the end of the day or taking the vehicle home and bringing the equipment into their residence. The suit alleged the tasks required after taking the vehicle home were considered by the company to be "off the clock," but should have been compensated.