FARMERS ADJUSTERS GET OVERTIME

An Oakland, Calif., jury awarded a record-setting claim for overtime to a group of Farmers Insurance Adjusters participating in a class action suit. More than 2,000 adjusters working for Farmers Insurance Exchange will receive $90,009,208 following five years of litigation to recover an overtime fund. Farmers is also liable for prejudgment interest, thought to be more than $30,000,000, along with the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs. Two years ago, the Superior Court in Oakland ruled that the claims adjusters were not exempt administrators and, therefore, were eligible for overtime pay. In March of this year, the Court of Appeal went ahead with the Superior Court’s ruling and in June, the California Supreme Court turned down a hearing in the matter. The jury’s verdict allocates payments for the 2,402 claims adjusters for their unpaid overtime from Oct. 1, 1993, to June 26 of this year, which was the trial date. The class members represented in the case made up approximately one-third of Farmers’ California workforce and were all personal lines claims representatives who processed auto and homeowners insurance claims.

Topics Claims Agribusiness