Case Updates
March 14, 2023
Court Approves $8.369 Million Overtime Settlement Reached for Google, LLC
Hourly Employees
On March 13, 2023, the district court for the Northern District of California
preliminarily approved a settlement of $8.369 million reached between
over 6,500 hourly employees from across the country and Google, LLC (“Google”).
The lawsuit alleges that Google neglected to include the value of vested
restricted stock units and sign-on bonuses it paid employees, when calculating
the overtime rate paid for overtime hours worked. The omission, the workers
assert, gave Google the benefit of paying hourly workers at a lower overtime
rate of pay than the law allows.
The settlement provides allocations to all non-exempt employees who worked
for the company from December 22, 2018 through June 5, 2022 who were awarded
restricted stock units that vested at any time during that period and/or
who received a sign-on bonus during that period, and extends to December
22, 2017 for those in California. While the California class members will
automatically be included in the settlement, those outside of California
will receive a Notice by mail and email giving them the opportunity to
join the settlement by submitting a Consent to Join form to the settlement
administrator by June 5, 2023. The district court will hold a final approval
hearing to further assess the reasonableness of the settlement on July 27, 2023.
Class Counsel, Michele R. Fisher of Nichols Kaster, PLLP stated, “we
are pleased with the settlement we were able to reach with Google and
look forward to getting these workers their settlement checks. This case
is a good reminder to employers to check to see if they are including
all appropriate forms of compensation in the overtime rate of pay.”
The case is entitled,
Cody Bowlay-Williams et. al v. Google, LLC, Case No. 4:21-cv-09942 (N.D. Cal.). The workers are represented by Class
Counsel Michele Fisher and Daniel Brome of Nichols Kaster, PLLP, and Charles
Scalise of Ross Scalise Law Group, P.C. Google, LLC is represented by
Paul Hastings LLP. More information about the case can be obtained by
contacting Class Counsel at (877) 448-0492 or visiting their website at
googleovertimecase.com.
September 6, 2022
Google, LLC Case Update
As a result of this lawsuit, earlier this year Google paid 70 employees
for whom Google allegedly made an error in late 2020 and 2021 by not incorporating
sales bonuses into the overtime rate of pay. While Google has not yet
agreed to pay overtime back wages for not including the value of the restricted
stock units when it calculated the overtime rate of pay, it has agreed
to mediate on October 3, 2022 to see if we can reach a settlement.
December 23, 2021
Google, LLC Employee Lodges Putative Class and Collective Action for Deflated
Overtime Rate of Pay
On December 22, 2021, a former Google, LLC account manager initiated a
lawsuit alleging that the company failed to include all legally required
compensation when calculating its hourly employees’ overtime rate of pay.
According to
Complaint, Google, LLC paid Plaintiff and others similarly situated on an hourly
basis, and provided them with other compensation in the form of commissions
and restricted stock units (a/k/a Google Stock Units). The problem, the
Complaint alleges, is that Google, LLC failed to include the value of
commissions and Google Stock Units when calculating the employees’
overtime rate paid for overtime hours they worked. The Complaint asserts
that this omission gave Google, LLC the benefit of paying its hourly employees
at a lower overtime rate of pay than the law requires.
The Complaint also alleges that Google, LLC breached its individual contract
with Plaintiff when it capped his earned commissions under a so-called
windfall provision, that Plaintiff alleges was not in the commission agreement
he entered with the company.
The lawsuit is filed as a putative collective action under the federal
Fair Labor Standards Act and class action under California state laws.
The action seeks to recover unpaid overtime compensation and liquidated
(double) damages for the workers impacted by Google, LLC’s alleged
miscalculation of the overtime rate of pay.
Plaintiff’s attorney, Michele R. Fisher of Nichols Kaster, PLLP,
explained, “the law generally requires that employers include all
forms of renumeration when calculating the overtime rate of pay for their
workers. While there are some exceptions, it is our position that Google,
LLC’s failure to include the value of commissions and restricted
stock units in the overtime rate of pay is a violation of federal and
state law. We believe this problem may impact many hourly employees across
the country who worked overtime hours, and who, in addition to their hourly
rate of pay, received commissions and/or restricted stock units.
Google, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc., an American
multinational technology conglomerate holding company. Google, LLC specializes
in internet-related services and products, which include online advertising
technologies, a search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware.
Plaintiff is represented by Michele R. Fisher from Nichols Kaster, PLLP
in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Daniel S. Brome from Nichols Kaster, LLP in
San Francisco, California, and Charles L. Scalise from Ross Scalise Law
Group in Austin, Texas. The case is
Bowlay-Williams v. Google, LLC, Case No.: 3:21-cv-09942 (N.D. Cal.).
Additional information about how to make a claim in the case may be found at
www.nka.com or by calling Nichols Kaster, PLLP at
(877) 344-4628.
