Security firm G4S has reached a 130 million US dollar (£100.2 million) settlement for a class action lawsuit concerning meal and rest breaks for its employees in California.
The lawsuit covers about 13,500 staff employed between 2001 and 2010 and the amount to be settled will be between 100 million and 130 million dollars.
The agreement follows G4S’s previous settlements of two class action lawsuits in California in 2015 and 2017 that were similar in nature and size.
They covered the periods 2003 to 2016 and 2013 to 2018 respectively, and were settled for 7.6 million dollars (about £5.8 million).
G4S said it was not possible to settle the recent class action on similar terms to the others and in light of “developing trends in case law in California”, it reached an agreement with the claimants through mediation.
The company maintained that it “has continuously updated its standard operating procedures in California in order to eliminate the circumstances giving rise to these labour claims”.
The FTSE 250-listed company operates in 45 countries, including some of the world’s biggest markets.
The settlement is expected to be paid in the second half of the year.
Despite the settlement, G4S backed its guidance for the full-year of underlying profit before interest, taxation and amortisation to be in line with the year earlier.
Results for 2018 are expected to be published on March 12.
