O.C. Register details settlement with carriers
The Orange County Register has announced details to pay as much as $22 million as part of a settlement with 5,000 people who delivered the newspaper from 1999 to 2008.
The Register, owned by Freedom Communications, said Friday that it expected checks would go out within three to four months.
The settlement reached in November capped a five-year legal battle in which newspaper carriers sought compensation because the company classified them as independent contractors and not employees, denying them overtime pay and mileage.
Under the settlement, the Register will hire the deliverers as independent contractors, but some terms of their pay will be changed.
The newspaper also agreed to pay $14 million to cover legal costs.
Carriers will be compensated based on their tenure, ranging from about $1,300 to more than $13,000. Named plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit will receive an extra $35,000.
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