A federal judge has given a tentative OK to a $5 million settlement that requires prevailing wage pay for workers who inspect and test fire alarm and sprinkler systems on public works projects.
The approval by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar Wednesday will give 533 Simplex Grinnell workers payments that range from a low of $200 to a maximum award of $36,000. The average award is $4,920, according to the court.
The lawyers may receive a maximum of $2.2 million from the $4.9 million settlement.
The class action, fired in 2011, alleged the workers were entitled to be paid at prevailing wage rates for work on government projects, but were not paid at those levels.
In March 2014, Tigar held that the workers were entitled to prevailing wages, which opened the door to an adversarial mediation session. That produced a settlement deal in October.
The deal covers workers between 2007 and 2014.
Tigar found the settlement adequate to compensate the workers, given an estimate of a potential $8.8 million liability for SimplexGrinnell.
Case: Bennett v. Simplexgrinnell, No. 11-cv-1854JST
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