Case: Boxall v. Los Angeles Times Communications

This is a case about the Los Angeles Times' company-wide treatment of hundreds of employees in violation of the California Equal Pay Act, Federal Equal Pay Act, and California's Unfair Compensation Law. On June 4, 2020, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and female employees of LA Times filed this civil class action lawsuit against the LA Times in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Bernardino. The case was assigned to Judge David Cohn. Represented by a private counsel, the plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment, permanent injunctive relief, unpaid wages, liquidated damages, compensatory damages, attorneys' fees, and statutory and civil penalties. The plaintiffs claimed:

1. The defendant favored white (non-Hispanic) and/or male employees which resulted in unlawful pay gaps, in the four to five-figure range annually for many female and minority journalists.
2. Tenure for veteran white-male employees translated to higher pay. This was not the case for veteran minority-female employees, resulting in a pay gap which has compounded exponentially over their long careers at the LA Times.

The plaintiffs sought class certification for classes of female employees, Black or African-American employees, and/or Hispanic or Latino employees who were/are employed by LA Times in California at any time from four years before filing this complaint through the final judgment. The plaintiffs defined six classes based on race, gender, and job title.

On October 26, 2020, the court certified the settlement class as "all women, Black or African-American employees, or Hispanic or Latino employees (including persons who may belong to more than one of these groups), who are, or have been, employees of the LA Times in California between February 14, 2015, and the date of preliminary approval of the settlement." The court also preliminarily approved the previously filed settlement agreement.

On March 25, 2021, the court ordered the final approval of the class action settlement and granted the motions for attorneys' fees, costs, claims administration expenses, and class representative incentive/service awards. We don't know any details about the settlement because it has not been released.

Almost a year later, on March 24, 2022, the court amended the final approval to grant the class action settlement, attorneys' fees, costs, claims administration expenses, and class representative incentive/service awards were granted in their entirety. This settlement was also kept private, so we don't know any details about the terms or the differences from the prior settlement.