Transportation giant C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. has settled a five-year-old overtime lawsuit involving more than 500 former employees, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis this week.
Terms of the settlement are sealed and must be approved by U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen. No date has been set for a hearing on the matter.
More than 100 lawsuits involving about 525 onetime Robinson employees were filed across the country alleging that the workers were misclassified under the Fair Labor Standards Act and thus were ineligible to collect overtime pay. At one point during the litigation, attorneys for the workers said their clients were entitled to $20 million in unpaid overtime wages going back to 1999.
A separate settlement filed this week on behalf of four former workers involves backpay of $12,500 collectively.
Eden Prairie-based C.H. Robinson is a $6.6 billion company with 6,800 employees worldwide. Neither C.H. Robinson nor attorneys for the former workers would comment on terms of the settlement.
DAVID PHELPS
