UPDATE: Today a Richmond judge approved the settlement in the Richmond Police Department overtime lawsuit. The $7 million settlement will be distributed among the 614 plaintiffs based upon the amount of overtime worked.
RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)--Tonight the Richmond City Council agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by more than 600 active and retired officers, that will amount to $7,160,000 dollars.
Richmond police officers often work additional hours but claim the overtime was never reflected in their pay.
However, that’s about to change, with the Richmond City Council agreeing to settle a lawsuit filed by more than 600 active and retired officers.
“They deserve every penny,” said Richmond City Council woman, Reva Trammell. Those pennies will add up to $7,160,000 dollars.
The lawsuit was spearheaded by officer, Stacy Rogers. Rogers said that by state law officers were supposed to get paid overtime for working more than 80 hours within a two week period. City leaders disagreed, and said that by federal law officers are only supposed to get paid overtime after working more than 86 hours.
“Well, there was obviously a disagreement over how overtime should be calculated,” said Richmond’s Chief Administrative Officer, Byron Marshall. Marshall told CBS 6 that a United States district court judge sided with the officers and that’s when the city realized, it was best to settle this suit. The suit was initially set at nearly $40 million.
“Both sides looked at the numbers really closely and decided what will work best for everybody," said Marshall.
Marshall went on to say that the money will come from the city’s $14 million dollar contingency fund, which is a reserve fund set aside for unexpected expenses. "One reason it had so much in it is because we were expecting this settlement,” said Marshall.
A U.S. district court judge is expected to review and approve of the settlement on Friday.
