Covidien Agrees to Pay $2.5 Million to WorkersCovidien Agrees to Pay $2.5 Million to Workers

A California federal judge has approved a $2.5 million settlement against Covidien in a class action lawsuit that alleged that the company coerced workers to forgo taking breaks. The suit also alleged that the company committed a variety of other state law wage-and-hour violations, including:

Judge David Carter of the U.S. District Court for Central California signed off on the agreement on the last day of January. The suit was brought by plaintiff Van Ba Ma, who filed the suit against Covidien Holding as well as Tyco Healthcare Group, Ev3 International, Micro Therapeutics, and an unnamed company.

Carter writes that Ma has a "fairly strong case, but it would be subject to a number of defenses by Covidien." Most notably, Covidien could argue that its employees had the opportunity to take breaks and were not illegally coerced into skipping them. In its rebuttal, Covidien states that it "denies [Ma's] allegations and contends it made every good faitheffort to comply with the applicable laws." The company adds that Ma "never complained that he failed to receive meal and/or rest breaks or that he had not been paid for all hours worked." Summarizing the case, Carter concludes that "there would be significant risks that the class could not remain certified, if Mr. Ma was not able to show the presence of policies, practices, or any other facts that would act as the glue to hold together all nonexempt California employees. Given the risks, the Court finds that $2,500,000 - or 9.1% of the total value of the action - is 'within the range of reasonableness.'"The settlement would award compensation to roughly 975 workers based in Covidien's California facilities. The suit was initially filed in September 2012.