News & Events

Laid-off V.C. Summer Workers Receive 1.59M Settlement for Overtime Backpay

Posted: August 22, 2018

When the V.C. Summer nuclear plant abruptly shut down in the summer of 2017, thousands of workers lost their job without notice. Yarborough Applegate partner William Applegate and co-counsel Amy Gaffney recently reached a $1.59M settlement for a small sub-group of those laid-off workers in one of two class action suits regarding their clients’ employment and termination. 

As reported by South Carolina Lawyers Weekly,

Just weeks after the layoff, those workers filed a Worker and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) class action lawsuit against Fluor, the leading construction contractor on the project, and WECTEC, a subsidiary of the nuclear energy company Westinghouse. The plaintiffs sought damages for not receiving the 60-day notice required by federal law, the release states, adding that Fluor employees were “among the hardest hit by the shutdown.’”

Applegate and Gaffney are two of the appointed lead lawyers for the class in that case.  

During their investigation into the WARN Act violations, Applegate and Gaffney discovered that Fluor withheld overtime pay for a group of its employees for extended periods of time. Based on this information, a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was filed to recover these workers’ backpay which resulted in the recovery of $1.59 million. 

The initial complaint filed in August 2017 was meant to ensure that these employees are protected and compensated consistent with the law. Attorney William Applegate says that they “believe the employees are entitled to significant damages.” Discovery for this case is still underway. 

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