Aon Insurance Services Inc. (now known as Aon Private Risk Management of California Insurance Agency Inc.), Aon Risk Services Cos. Inc. and Aon Corp. have agreed to pay $10.5 million to employees who said they should have received overtime and other compensation, according to the settlement.
The case alleged that Aon misclassified California account specialists, who assisted account managers in providing insurance brokerage services to Aon's clients, as exempt administrative employees, plaintiffs' law firm Marlin & Saltzman of Irvine, Calif., said in a statement.
More than 100 witnesses were deposed after the case was filed in September 2007. In May 2010, Los Angeles Superior Court judge Carolyn Kuhl granted plaintiffs' motion for class certification to account specialists employed from September 2003 to March 2011. However, both sides reached a settlement agreement, which was approved by Judge Elihu M. Berle on behalf of 534 class members.
Attorneys fees will not be more than one-third of the settlement, according to court papers.
Aon denied any liability in agreeing to the settlement, according to court papers.