Locks Law Firm Announces Nationwide Settlement of Staples Wage and Hour Cases

CHERRY HILL, N.J., Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Locks Law Firm, LLC, together with other Plaintiffs' counsel, announced on Friday that a global settlement agreement had been reached between Staples, Inc. and its assistant store managers concerning wage and hour lawsuits.  The lawsuits involved the alleged misclassification of assistant store managers and sought overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week.  Plaintiffs contended that overtime pay was required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and the laws of certain states.

Under the global settlement, which is subject to court approval, Staples has agreed to pay $42 million to resolve the allegations and end the litigation that has been ongoing for the past several years.   Locks Law Firm, as co-lead counsel, obtained a $4.9 million judgment against Staples, Inc. last year on behalf of 343 Staples' assistant sales managers after a month and half long jury trial in the United States District Court in New Jersey (Stillman v. Staples, Inc., 07-cv-849, D.N.J.).  As part of the settlement, Staples has also agreed to drop its appeal of that judgment.  That case, a case pending in Massachusetts state court and ten cases that are centralized in the United Stated District Court for the District of New Jersey as part of a multidistrict litigation proceeding are included in the settlement. The settlement amount resolves claims for damages dating back as far as 2002 for some of the settlement class members and covers more than 5,000 current and former associates from all states in which Staples does business outside of California.

Plaintiffs and their counsel believe the settlement to be an excellent result for the present and former Staples assistant managers who will benefit from it because the settlement will provide a definite and sure recovery long before any possible payment could be achieved through continued litigation.  The settlement, if approved, will avoid the possibility of adverse rulings or even no recovery at all.  

The settlement will be presented to the Court for preliminary approval shortly and, approximately 60 days after a court order granting such approval, official forms will be mailed to settlement class members.

Locks Law Firm has represented thousands of employees over the past decade in lawsuits against employers for failure to pay overtime wages and for improperly classifying their employees as exempt from federal and state overtime requirements.  The Firm has offices in Philadelphia and New York City, and in Cherry Hill and Englewood Cliffs in New Jersey. Please visit our website, www.lockslaw.com, for more information about our Firm.

SOURCE Locks Law Firm, LLC