Dive Brief:
- Oracle agreed to a $15.5 million settlement of a lawsuit brought by two former California sales employees who alleged that the technology company violated the state’s wage laws for commissioned sales workers, attorneys for the plaintiffs announced Wednesday.
- Plaintiffs in Abrishamcar v. Oracle America, Inc. filed their 2015 lawsuit under California’s Private Attorneys General Act, claiming that Oracle’s commission wage policies violated state labor codes and that the company illegally deducted earned commission wages. They also alleged failure to pay all earned commission wages, provision of inaccurate wage statements and imposition of an illegal confidentiality agreement.
- The plaintiffs have filed a motion for approval with the Superior Court of California, San Mateo County, according to their statement. Per a copy of the settlement obtained by HR Dive, Oracle denied all claims, liability or wrongdoing alleged in the complaint.
Dive Insight:
The lawsuit against Oracle nears a close after nearly a decade of litigation, and the proposed settlement would provide penalty payments for over 5,000 alleged aggrieved current and former employees, according to the plaintiffs’ statement.
Per the complaint, Oracle failed to provide commissioned sales employees with a written commission contract at the beginning of their employment, including a signed copy. A purported commission contract was not timely provided and signed as required by state law and failed to set forth the method by which commissions would be computed and paid, plaintiffs claimed.
Oracle also allegedly reserved the right to make illegal deductions from commission wages in order to shift business costs onto affected employees. As a result of such practices, Oracle failed to provide accurate itemized statements showing the gross wages earned by plaintiffs, they claimed.
“This settlement is a testament to the dedication of our clients who have invested years of their lives to achieving this outcome,” Xinying Valerian, managing partner of Valerian Law and a co-lead trial attorney for the plaintiffs, said in the statement.
Plaintiffs brought the lawsuit under PAGA, the California state law which permits employees to file lawsuits on behalf of themselves and other current or former employees to recover civil penalties. The number of suits brought under PAGA has steadily increased since the law took effect in 2004, according to an analysis by law firm Duane Morris, including in 2024, which saw a nearly 22% increase in PAGA suits compared to 2023.
