A federal judge has preliminarily approved a settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by The Kaplan Law Firm on behalf of construction workers who worked in the Washington, D.C. area, principally in Virginia and the District of Columbia. The Defendants in the case have agreed to pay up to $618,000 to affected workers and for their attorneys’ fees.
The settlement was given preliminary approval by Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on April 7, 2021. The case was brought as a class action and collective action against Anning-Johnson Company, and HITT Contracting, Inc., major U.S. construction contractors, and two of their subcontractors, Brothers RC Contractor LLC and S & R Construction LLC. Its principal allegation is that construction workers were not paid at the required time-and-a-half rate for overtime work, in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and District of Columbia law. The classes covered by the settlement encompass several hundred workers. The case is Esparza v. Anning-Johnson Co., No. 1:19-cv-03481. Following the filing of this lawsuit, Anning-Johnson reportedly strengthened its supervision of its subcontractors to ensure that the overtime payment violations that allegedly occurred in this case are not repeated.
The Court will hold a final approval hearing on the proposed settlement on October 7, 2021. If the settlement is approved, funds will then be distributed to the affected construction workers. More details about the settlement, including about how those eligible can make a claim for compensation, will soon be available on the website of Rust Consulting, the court-appointed settlement administrator.
The Kaplan Law Firm’s cocounsel in litigating this case were the superb attorneys of the Handley Farah & Anderson law firm.