GEICO has agreed to pay more than $900,000 plus administrative costs to settle lawsuits from almost 1,500 call-center workers who said the insurer failed to pay overtime, including for time spent booting up computers and logging into a GEICO network.
Some $520,000 of that settlement will go to the plaintiffs’ attorneys in Nashville, Atlanta and Birmingham, Alabama, according to the settlement agreement. That leaves an average of about $240 per plaintiff, although four named plaintiffs will see payments of about $5,000 each. Two others will receive $20,000 each in retaliation settlement payments.
The fees and costs payable to plaintiffs’ counsel were “negotiated separate and apart from any amounts to be paid to the plaintiffs,” the judge wrote in approving the settlement.
GEICO, a Berkshire Hathaway company, did not admit fault in the settlement agreement, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.
“GEICO denies any liability or wrongdoing of any kind whatsoever associated with the claims alleged” by plaintiffs, the agreement reads. Specifically, the insurance company denied that it maintained employment practices that failed to comply with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
“Defendants enter into this settlement solely for purposes of avoiding the costs and disruption of ongoing litigation and to settle any and all outstanding claims in the lawsuits,” GEICO attorneys wrote.
Hundreds of employees at GEICO’s Macon, Georgia, call center joined two lawsuits in 2023, alleging that the insurer regularly avoided paying for downtime at the jobsite and required workers to work off-the-clock and on breaks to make up for downtime.
“GEICO does not pay Plaintiffs and similarly situated employees for time spent on work activities performed when they are not logged into” the computer system and network, the plaintiffs’ amended complaint argued.
The judge in the case last summer barred some workers from joining, noting that their arguments had changed and were not supported by evidence. Also, expert testimony indicated that some employees were, in fact, paid for more time than they had spent logged in.
The settlement agreement, seen here, was approved by Judge Marc Treadwell on Jan. 23.
Related: Judge Mutes GEICO Call Center Workers’ Class-Action Demands Over Unpaid Time
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