CHIEF Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI has issued a 15-page decision and order approving a Fair Labor Standards Act settlement between Turkish construction workers and Imperial Pacific International LLC.
The judge also granted the plaintiffs’ motion for attorney’s fees and costs.
IPI paid a total of $480,000 to the plaintiffs’ attorney for the FLSA collective action claims as well as attorney’s fees and costs on Oct. 5, 2022.
Because the plaintiffs’ counsel has received the full payment for the FLSA claims, Judge Manglona said the satisfaction of the FLSA judgment will be entered on the docket in this action.
Attorney Richard Miller represented Özcan Genç, Hasan Gökçe, Süleyman Köş, and 26 other Turkish workers in a lawsuit filed against IPI in November 2020.
The court earlier granted the plaintiffs’ request for an entry of default after IPI failed to file a response or defend within the time permitted by court rules.
The plaintiffs filed the complaint “on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated” H-2B workers who were recruited from Turkey in 2019. They are master plumbers, carpenters, electricians, construction workers and foremen.
The complainants said they were promised above minimum wage, substantial overtime pay, and round-trip tickets.
They said IPI also promised them that it would hire a cook who could prepare the kind of food suited for them. They alleged that IPI retaliated against them for their protest actions.
