The Plain Dealer, $660,000 InkStop settlement approved by federal court judge

pdf article / full article from cleveland.com

By Janet Cho
March 31, 2010, 5:12PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- U.S. District Court Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. on Wednesday approved the $660,000 settlement agreement between InkStop Inc.'s board of directors and 629 former employees.

The agreement, approved just shy of six months after the office supply chain shut its doors and locked out its workers without pay on Oct. 1, is compensating workers from a fund created and paid for by the 15-member board of directors, including founders Dirk and Dawn Kettlewell.

Workers have until April 28 to return their settlement form to get paid for owed wages and overtime. Checks are expected to be mailed in mid-May.

The settlement form stipulates that in return for accepting the payment, the employee agrees to drop all claims against InkStop's directors and executives in two pending lawsuits.

According to U.S. Department of Labor calculations, workers can receive up to $4,920.50. Store managers can get an additional $169.34 to settle claims that they were asked to work unpaid overtime.

Workers can not be paid for unused vacation and sick days, because InkStop filed for bankruptcy.

Those who have not opted in to the previous lawsuit must contact Attorneys Anthony Lazzaro at The Lazzaro Law Firm LLC or Jason Bristol at Cohen Rosenthal & Kramer LLP at for the proper form.