Medina v. Evolve Mortgage Services, LLC

The Settlement Received Final Approval on April 17, 2023.




The extended deadline to submit an Opt In form expired on February 13, 2023.


What the Lawsuit About?

The United States District Court for the Central District of California (“the Court”) oversees this lawsuit, which was filed on August 13, 2021 by Sandra Medina (“Named Plaintiff”), a former employee of Evolve Mortgage Services, LLC (“Defendant” or “Evolve”). In pertinent part, the Named Plaintiff has brought this lawsuit on behalf of herself and all other individuals who are or were employed by Evolve in the United States as non-exempt employees eligible for commission or other non-discretionary incentive pay, and who were paid overtime and non-discretionary incentive pay in the same pay period at least once, at any time between August 13, 2018 and December 31, 2021. In the lawsuit, the Named Plaintiff alleges that Evolve violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) by incorrectly calculating overtime payments to non-exempt employees who were eligible for commission or other non-discretionary incentive pay. Specifically, the Named Plaintiff asserts that Evolve did not include certain commissions or other non-discretionary incentive pay when it calculated the overtime rate with which to pay any overtime hours that employees worked. Based on the alleged improper calculations, the Named Plaintiff also alleged the following claims under California law: failure to pay overtime compensation, failure to pay proper meal period premiums, failure to provide accurate wage statements, waiting time penalties, and unfair competition.


What Does the Settlement Provide?

Evolve will pay up to Five Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($575,000.00) to settle the claims in the lawsuit in their entirety (the “Gross Settlement Value”). Of this amount, up to Three Hundred Eighty-Three Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($383,750.00) will be allocated to settle the claims of all FLSA Collective Members who submit timely opt-in forms. In addition, the Gross Settlement Value will be allocated as follows: (1) Four Thousand ($4,000) will be allocated to settle California Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claims. Of this amount, $3,000 will be paid to the California Labor Workforce and Development Agency, as required by law, and $1,000 will be allocated proportionately to members of the FLSA Collective who worked in California for Evolve between August 13, 2020 and December 31, 2021; (2) Plaintiff’s counsel’s attorneys’ fees, up to twenty-five percent of the Gross Settlement Value (or $143,750.00); (3) Plaintiff’s costs of litigation, up to the amount of $9,500.00; (4) a contingency fund of $10,000.00 to resolve any potential disputes by FLSA Collective Members or to otherwise effectuate the purposes of the settlement; (5) The expenses of administering the settlement, up to the amount of $16,500.00; and (6) A service award of up to $7,500.00 for Plaintiff’s role in pursuing the litigation.


How do I Participate in the Settlement?

To recover money under the settlement, you must complete and return the Opt-In Form to the Settlement Administrator by First Class Mail, fax, online, or email on or before January 26, 2023.