Negotiations with the state failed to resolve the two the issues in this case. The first issue is the calculation of interest on the interest that is owed to you, and the second issue is whether those employees who terminated their employment with the state after they received the overtime payments in 2006 are entitled to penalty pay.

We had what I believed was an appropriate resolution of the interest payments for all the plaintiffs. However, the state wanted a settlement that included all claims and insisted that a settlement for penalty pay be included with the overtime calculations. The problem was that the state was only willing to pay .20 cents on the dollar for settlement on penalty pay claims, something that I was unable to recommend to those clients who may qualify for penalty pay.

We will continue to send out calculation summaries to clients so that they can understand the methodology used to be calculating interest payments, and we will be asking for their approval of them. Also, we need to be questioning all of our clients to see which ones may qualify for penalty pay. If you have not received letter from us to date, you will be receiving one within a few weeks. Our staff of dedicated paraprofessionals is working hard to get this information to each individual plaintiff as soon as possible.

With negotiations failed these issues will be presented to Judge Abernethy for resolution. Both briefs on these issues from the parties are due to by the 23rd of February and if the Judge wishes we will have oral argument on the 2nd of March. After we get a ruling from the Circuit Court Judge on these matters, or in the unlikely event that the state changes its position concerning a settlement, I will post an update on our Web page.