Reply #16: Right Result, Low Dollar Figure

[DarthDem]

All of the pluses and minuses of class action litigation are on display here. First, WM was able to drag this out for eight years, for heaven knows what reason; second, each individual worker is not getting much; third, although this may be "chump change" to WM, it's still a financial hit, and the bad pub hurts as well; fourth, there are non-monetary components to the settlement that will (if implemented properly) prevent this from happening again; and fifth, while the individual workers did not get much, class counsel did.

It's a mix of good and bad, mostly good. Had any given individual worker brought suit, their claims might have been tossed by a right-wing judge before ever getting to a jury, they would have been branded a liar and a crazy person, and would have more directly endangered their job security. And the damages wouldn't have been all that much, either - - probably $10,000 per person, depending on the lost break time and the value of the false imprisonment.