Wage Law

A class action settlement in a case against Dunbar Armored, Inc. was recently denied preliminary approval by an Orange County Superior Court judge for the following reasons:

1) The Settlement Agreement does not call for the segregation of the Settlement funds and that the Defendant may distribute the funds.  This does not provide adequate protection for the members of the class.  The Gross Settlement Fund should be paid to a Claims Administrator on a date certain for distribution.

2) Definition of full and partial work weeks were not included in the Settlement Agreement.

3) The Settlement Agreement called for the residue to be used to pay the Defendant’s share of the tax obligations, without specifying that the Defendant would pay those obligations out of pocket if the residue was insufficient.

4) Money from uncashed checks to Class Members were to be kept by the employer. Law requires that uncashed wage checks must escheat to the State Controlled. Employer taxes will be paid on those funds and the employee will incur a tax liability on them.

5) The Settlement Agreement did not defined the claims for “unpaid wages” and “late paid wages” that were to be released, nor did the agreement specify how much of the fund was applied to those claims.

6) Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 384,  a Judgment must be entered; not a Dismissal as called for in the Agreement.

7) The claim for required a "Taxpayer Identification Number Certification."

8) The way subclasses were included, the creation of the different funds could mean that some class members will get a larger percentage of their fund than others and therefore be paid more if there are fewer in one sub-fund.

9) The Class Members should not be required to indemnify the Defendant for anything, especially the propriety of Defendant’s payroll tax obligations.

We often haggle for weeks over the attempt by employers to include similar terms in the "final" class action settlement agreement. In particular, employers always seem to want terms like those rejected in points 1, 3, 4, 6 and 9. A good judge won't approve a settlement that includes such provisions, folks. Stop asking.