OAKLAND – The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently approved a preliminary settlement in a class action lawsuit in which a group of sales representatives allege Revel Systems failed to pay overtime wages.
In a Feb. 22 filing, U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr., granted a motion by Joseph Bisaccia and other sales representatives for preliminary approval of the settlement against Revel Systems.
According to the preliminary settlement, Revel will pay 149 class members a total of $2.75 million. That amount will include settlement payments to all "class and collective members and also includes administrative costs, incentive awards, any attorneys’ fees and costs award, and all individual settlement payments, including employee taxes but excluding employer taxes," the order states. The individual settlement payments will be calculated "proportionately based on individualized damages calculations using payroll data provided by Revel."
Individual settlement amounts will range from $248.12 to $53,244.24.
Attorneys will share 25 percent of the settlement or approximately $700,000, and may submit expenses up to $20,000. The class is represented by attorneys from Nichols Kaster in San Francisco, Velton Zegelman in Sunnyvale and Allen Attorny Group in Walnut Creek
Bisaccia, an inside sales representative for Revel, initially filed suit in May 2017 on behalf of other employees alleging that Revel violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it failed to pay them overtime compensation. According to the filing, the inside sales representatives regularly worked more than 40 hours per week but did not receive overtime compensation.
According to the suit, Revel argued that the employees were not compensated overtime pay because they were classified as “exempt” employees.
In July 2017, attorneys for the class sought conditional certification of a collective action as to all inside sales employees across sales titles and across Revel's various offices. Both parties jointly filed a notice of settlement in August 2018 and entered into a settlement agreement in September 2018.
Both parties now have seven days to submit a schedule to the courts for when class members will be notified of the settlement, distribution of funds to class members and attorneys' fees.