After more than a year of hotly contested litigation, parties involved in a class-action lawsuit dealing with unpaid wages allegedly owed to Hutchinson Technology Inc. employees have reached a tentative settlement. The U.S. District Court in St. Paul has initially approved the settlement.

Approximately 5,600 current and former production employees of the company’s plants in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin stand to receive from less than $1 to more than $1,200.

“We believe it’s a fair settlement and in the best interests of all parties, and it represents extensive work and compromises on a variety of issues from both sides,” said Connie Pautz, the company’s communications director.

Troy Poetz of Rajkowski Hansmeier Ltd. in St. Cloud, the attorney for the plaintiffs, was also pleased with the settlement.

“We’re satisfied,” he said. “A lot of times in class-action cases the class members don’t enjoy a lot of benefit and in this case a lot of class members will see a substantial benefit.”

In their complaint, the attorneys contended Hutchinson Technology production workers were not paid for the time it took them to put on or take off protective clothing at the beginning and end of each work day and for meal breaks. They argued the practice violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and certain Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota statutes.

They originally maintained that workers spent 10 to 15 minutes putting on and taking off gear such as hairnets, face masks, smocks, latex gloves and beard guards each day. The gear is required to maintain a clean work area for the manufacture of suspension assemblies for computer hard drives.

The company contended that it had not broken any law, and that the amount of time at issue was less than two minutes per day. It also contended that there was considerable flexibility as to when employees arrived for or left from work so that on any given day many employees were putting on and taking off protective gear on the clock.

Hutchinson Technology produced thousands of pages of documents in the case. Plaintiffs’ experts inspected three of the company’s facilities and conducted hours of videotaping at the Hutchinson plant. After extensive litigation, the parties agreed to mediation and engaged a mediator in December 2007.

The settlement agrees to compensate employees for two minutes of each day worked. In January, the company set aside $2.5 million for the settlement.

It also calls for the plaintiffs to be awarded fees of $625,000 and reimbursement for costs not to exceed $90,000.

Pautz said the company made “slight adjustments” in late December 2007 so that time spent putting on and taking off protective gear would no longer be a wage issue.

Notices and claim forms will be mailed this month to current and former employees who stand to receive payments. The notices will inform employees of the amounts they’re owed. The notices will contain a deadline of 60 days for the return of the claim form. A final fairness hearing has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 11.

Poetz said the case doesn’t necessarily “blaze a new trail” for the tech industry because a similar case in Oregon awarded a settlement to production employees for time spent putting on and taking off protective gear. Several court cases involving meatpacking and poultry plants have also benefited production workers for time spent changing garments.

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Who is eligible for a payment?

The court divided current and former employees into three classes:

Minnesota: All nonexempt, nonsupervisory employees who were required to put on protective gear prior to the start of their shifts, and take off the gear at the end of their shifts, from Aug. 28, 2003, to Dec. 29, 2007.

Wisconsin: All nonexempt, nonsupervisory employees who were required to put on protective gear prior to the start of their shifts, and take off the gear at the end of their shifts, from June 14, 2004, to Dec. 29, 2007.

South Dakota: All nonexempt, nonsupervisory employees who were required to put on protective gear prior to of the start their shifts, and take off the gear at the end of their shifts, from June 14, 2004, to Dec. 29, 2007.

(Doug Hanneman is editor of the Hutchinson Leader. He may be reached at hanneman@hutchinsonleader.com)