Unpaid-wage case settled for $260,000

May 17, 1999|By BRYN MICKLE

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A federal judge has approved a $260,000 settlement of a class-action lawsuit led by four former employees of a Martinsburg rental store.

The lawsuit against ABC Television and Appliance Rental Inc. alleged the company did not pay overtime wages to employees of its Prime Time Rentals stores in Martinsburg, Hagerstown, Md., and Winchester, Va., according to Robert Schiavoni, one of the lawyers for the workers.

The class-action lawsuit covered "a few hundred" current and former employees of the company's 22 stores in six states, Schiavoni said.

An employee at the Prime Time Rental store in Hagerstown said the company had no comment on the lawsuit and would comply with the settlement agreement.

Former Prime Time workers Kevin A. Kidrick, Brandi K. Blackman, Jamie L. Shanholtz and Kelli J. Vanhorsdale alleged in the suit that they and other employees were not paid overtime wages as required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The employees had been salaried, but argued they should have been paid time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours a week.

"Many workers think they are not entitled to overtime because they get paid a salary," attorney Garry G. Geffert said. "But that is not true."

Geffert said state and federal laws say that most nonmanagement workers should get time-and-a-half pay for work over 40 hours in a week.

The lawsuit also alleged that employees at the Martinsburg Prime Time Rentals store were not paid for unused vacation pay when they left their jobs.

The settlement was approved May 7 and will be paid out within the next two months.

Notices of the settlement have been sent to past and present employees covered by the lawsuit, according to Geffert.

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