The Plain Dealer, Cash for 3,700 Cleveland city employees in time clock dispute

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By Rich Exner, Northeast Ohio Media Group
on September 04, 2014 at 8:00 AM, updated September 04, 2014 at 8:26 AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Some 3,747 current and former City of Cleveland employees shorted pay because of a time clock dispute are to receive $1.4 million in backpay or comp time under a class action settlement.

Payments will range from just 14 cents for one worker to a high of $9,226.61 for another. On average the deal will mean an extra $385 per worker in pay or comp time.

Payments will be made in two installments, one in December and the other in February, said attorney Anthony J. Lazzaro of the Lazzaro Law Firm, which handled the case.

Workers who currently receive comp time will receive their backpay in comp time, unless they already have filed paperwork saying they instead want cash; others will be paid by check, as will former employees.

Lazzaro said those on the list need to do nothing at this time. They will receive payments in their checks or, in the case of former employees, by mail.

Lazzaro said he anticipates final approval of the settlement in U.S. District Court within weeks.

The settlement is for $2.2 million. Attorney fees amount to $733,333. After other expenses, $1,443,805.17 will be due to the employees in cash or comp time.

One employee is due 197.5 comp time hours, or roughly five weeks of time off. A second is due 167.1 hours.

How much each person receives was calculated proportionally to the amount they lost in overtime since 2011.

The suit was brought by an employee who said she was shorted pay because the city rounded clocked-in and clocked-out times to the city's advantage.