In recent news, The Northern District of California district court offered preliminary approval of an $8.369 million settlement in an overtime lawsuit alleging Google neglected to include sign-on bonuses and vested restricted stock units in overtime calculations.

The Case: Cody Bowlay-Williams et al. v. Google, LLC

The Court: Northern District of California

The Case No.: 4:21-cv-09942

The Plaintiff: Cody Bowlay-Williams et al. v. Google, LLC

The plaintiff in the case, Cody Bowlay-Williams, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of more than 6,500 Google employees nationwide. The lawsuit alleged Google omitted sign-on bonuses and vested restricted stock units from overtime pay calculations. In doing so, Google allegedly failed to comply with the overtime pay rate mandated by labor law. The workers claim the omission was made to benefit the company while shorting hourly workers full pay for overtime hours worked.

The Defendant: Cody Bowlay-Williams et al. v. Google, LLC

The defendant in the case, Google, is most well-known as a popular internet search engine. However, the multinational technology company has many focuses, including artificial intelligence, online advertising, and search engine technology. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of hourly Google employees in the U.S. employed between December 22, 2018, and June 5, 2022, who were awarded restricted stock units that vested during that period or received a sign-on bonus during that same time. (The period extends to December 22, 2017, for Google employees in California).

The Case: Cody Bowlay-Williams et al. v. Google, LLC

A proposed settlement of $8.369 million was given preliminary approval by the District Court of Northern California on March 13, 2023. The settlement allocations go to over 6,500 non-exempt hourly Google employees in the class. California class members were included automatically, and qualifying class members outside of California were sent a Notice (by mail and email) offering them the opportunity to submit a Consent to Join form to join the settlement. The Consent to Join form was due June 5, 2023. The court scheduled the final approval hearing for July 27, 2023. The case is a reminder for California employers to double-check that all forms of eligible compensation are included in overtime rate of pay calculations.

If you have questions about how to file a California overtime class action, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in various law firm offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.