The University of Iowa Hospital and Clinic (UIHC) has agreed to a $15 million settlement to end a 2019 class action lawsuit that alleged hospital and clinic employees were improperly paid and were not paid overtime.

The lawsuit was filed against Iowa's Board of Regents, the governing body of the UIHC. The class action includes just under 11,000 workers who alleged that managers did not pay them the overtime they were due, bonuses, or earned leave, in a timely manner as required by state and federal law.

As part of the settlement, the six employees who led the suit will each receive $10,000. The remaining $11.6 million will be split among the remaining class action members.

The money will be split proportionally among the remaining employees based on how much pay they did not receive in a timely manner. According to court documents, it's estimated that about 5,000 class settlement members will receive roughly $500; one-third, or an estimated 3,700 members, will receive over $1,000, and the top 302 members will receive over $5,000 each.

In March, U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Rose wrote that not only did the hospital violate state and federal law but that UIHC should be held accountable by paying additional damages. Lawyers for UIHC argued that the payment of additional damages was not called for because employees were eventually paid the money they were owed. Despite this, Judge Rose wrote That the employees should be allowed to “collect liquidated damages from employers for intentional untimely payments of wages.”

Attorney for the UIHC workers, Nate Willems, welcomed the Judge’s ruling saying, “Judge Rose’s decision today represents a significant win for all workers in Iowa, and state employees in particular, who are forced to wait weeks and sometimes months for the wages they have earned, which is a hardship wage laws like the are designed to prevent.”

After Judge Rose’s ruling, the Board of Regents appealed the decision, but the appellate court both affirmed and reversed the decision. As a result, the Board of Regents and lawyers representing UIHC workers met for mediation and agreed on a $15 million settlement, including $3.4 million which will account for the plaintiff's attorneys fees.

While both parties have agreed to the settlement, the Board of Regents explained that “The board denies that it is liable to or owes damages to anyone with respect to the alleged facts or causes of action asserted in the lawsuit.”