YOUNG UPDATE: RESULTS OF THE MAY 17 HEARING

IN FRONT OF JUDGE LIPSCOMB

On May 17 the parties went to Court to present two issues to Judge Lipscomb. The first issue is whether any employees who terminated their employment with the State of Oregon and covered by this lawsuit are entitled to “penalty pay” under Oregon law because their final paycheck did not include the overtime compensation which is owed because of this case. The statute requires that employees who do not receive their final paycheck in the proper amount may receive up to 30 days of pay from an employer if the employer made a “knowing” decision not to pay them appropriately upon termination. The State argued that first, until the Court of Appeals reversed Marion County Circuit Court, that the State had a good faith belief for believing that it did not owe employees overtime pay, and therefore should be excused from the penalty pay provisions. Secondly, that it had no idea how many hours employees actually worked so it couldn’t have paid in any event. Judge Lipscomb stated that he would rule on this after he has reviewed the memorandum submitted by both sides.

The second issue was to receive guidance from the Judge on differences between the parties about the exact type of formal Notice which will be sent out to the current and former employees who were entitled to participate in this lawsuit. Judge Lipscomb gave guidance to the parties that was consistent with the request of the Plaintiffs, namely that the Notice be in the form of a memorandum from the Judge, rather than a formalized legal notice, which many persons have a tendency to disregard. He also gave direction on trying to help the parties to resolve their remaining differences on this matter.

We will continue to try to reach agreement with the State, but if we cannot do so we will present our differences to the Judge for a ruling. Any differences that we cannot resolve will be presented to the Judge on June 15, at a 9:30 a.m. hearing.

While we have not reached definite agreement as to how these claims will be processed, it appears that the parties will be able to agree that two different documents will be attached to the Judge’s Notice. The first will be a claim form that all Plaintiffs will have to fill out and return to Oregon Research Survey Laboratory (OSRL). OSRL will compute the Plaintiffs’ wages from the claim form. If OSRL has questions about how the form has been completed, OSRL will contact the Plaintiffs and will go over it with them. In addition, a second form will allow those persons who do not wish to participate in the lawsuit to opt out of the lawsuit.

After the claim form has been completed by OSRL, and damages have been calculated, both the person who submitted the damage, myself as their attorney, and the State will be given copies of OSRL’s work. Either side will have 30 days to object to the settlement or it becomes final.

After the June 15 hearing, which will be cancelled if we are able to negotiate a settlement of the Notice form with the State, the Court will set a formal hearing as required by Oregon law for any Plaintiff who objects to the form of the settlement, which is the use of an arbitration procedure, or objects to my request for attorney’s fees in the amount of 25 percent of the claims, to file their objections with the Court. After that hearing has been completed, and the Court has made its final rulings on the matter, then each claim will be processed in accordance with this agreement.

Any person who has questions about these matters should feel free to contact me with a phone call or via E-mail.

Sincerely,

The Law Office of John Hoag, P.C.

JH:kp