Stryker (NYSE:SYK) this week agreed to pay $3 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by a former sales rep accusing its Howmedica subsidiary of stiffing workers’ expense claims.
Tanner Trosper sued Stryker and Howmedica in 2013, alleging failure to reimburse employees for business-related expenses and failing to have a reimbursement policy in place, as required by California law, according to court documents.
In April 2014 Stryker asked Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for Northern California to dismiss the case, arguing that "Trosper has failed to produce evidence demonstrating the existence of an employment relationship between Trosper and Stryker," according to the documents. Koh declined to grant summary judgment in favor of Stryker, ruling that "Trosper’s evidence presents a genuine issue of material fact regarding the existence of an employment relationship between Trosper and Stryker."
A year later and despite a failed mediation attempt, the parties agreed to a settlement that calls for Stryker to pay a total of $3 million to the 134 plaintiffs in the case, according to court filings.
That works out to average gross payments of $22,388 each, excluding administration, legal fees and incentive awards, according to the documents. The deal must still be approved by the court, with a hearing slated for Oct. 1. The settlement applies to all Howmedica sales reps employed in California from Feb. 1, 2009, until Oct. 1, 2012, in the division’s craniomaxillofacial, reconstruction, trauma & extremities and joint preservation businesses, according to the settlement.