Preliminary Settlement Approved for Teachers, Tutors, and Instructors
Our employment attorneys represent a class of teachers, tutors, and instructors who work for ThinkTank Learning, Inc. According to our lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, they were required to spend out-of-classroom time on a range of work activities, including preparing to teach and tutor, grading student assignments, tests, and quizzes, preparing progress reports, and providing feedback to students and parents.
Our lawsuit alleges that, in not paying its instructors for these out-of-classroom tasks, ThinkTank violated certain California wage and hour laws by underpaying hourly and overtime wages and failing to reimburse expenses, among other things.
On July 21, 2017, the court granted the parties’ motion for preliminary approval of the class settlement. ThinkTank agreed to pay a total of $1.3 million.
The class includes:
“all teachers, tutors, and homework helpers who were employed by ThinkTank in California and paid on an hourly basis at any time from 2/10/12 through 11/7/16.”
Class members are entitled to a share of the settlement, which will be disbursed in two separate installments, based on the number of in-class hours they taught and their most recently hourly pay rate.
Portions of the $1.3 million will also cover other costs, including settlement administration, required payment to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and attorneys’ fees and costs.
The settlement’s Final Approval Hearing is scheduled for December 1, 2017.
For additional details about the ThinkTank settlement and upcoming deadlines, please visit the settlement website.
Gibbs Law Group’ employment attorneys have decades of experience advocating for the rights of workers in California and nationwide who were not properly compensated for all hours worked.
Our attorneys are currently litigating a wage and hour class action on behalf of former employees of Family Video, who allege they were not compensated for overtime hours worked off-the-clock.
| Acosta | $9.9 million for unpaid overtime and business expenses |
| Spansion | $8.5 million for employees laid off without proper notice |
| Masco | Backpay for workers who were misclassified |
| Fleetwood | Backpay for employees laid off without proper notice |
| Cosmo | $1 million for merchandisers who were not compensated for off-the-clock work |
| First Franklin | Backpay for workers who were not paid overtime |
Steven Tindall has nearly twenty years of experience representing plaintiffs in employment and class action litigation involving employee misclassification, wage and hour claims, sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, WARN Act, FCRA, and ERISA violations. He has represented employees against large corporations in a variety of industries, including technology, financial services, construction, transportation, and private education.
Amanda Karl represents consumers and employees harmed by corporations. Amanda served as the Director of the Workers’ Rights Disability Law Clinic while earning her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. She also worked throughout law school as a Clinical Law Student at the East Bay Community Law Center, assisting with litigation targeting criminal record reporting violations, and as a law clerk at Equal Rights Advocates, where she worked on women’s employment issues involving wage and hour law, pregnancy discrimination, ADA and Title VII.