A federal judge has rejected U.S. Steel's effort to kill a lawsuit seeking cash for time employees spend preparing for work at the company's plants -- including Gary Works -- but the judge tossed out some of the suit's key claims.
In a 43-page ruling that explores both union bargaining rights and the dictionary definition of "clothing," South Bend-based U.S. District Court Chief Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. threw out claims that workers should be able to recover overtime money for time spent showering and laundering their clothes or "donning and doffing" protective clothing.
Miller denied the steelmaker's request to block claims for compensation for "walking time" workers spend traveling around the steel plants before and after their jobs. Miller also rejected two of U.S. Steel's legal gambits to torpedo the whole lawsuit, including the argument that collective bargaining laws prevent the workers from suing.
Both sides portrayed the ruling as a victory.
Attorneys for some 600 plaintiffs in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan hailed the ruling as a rejection of the steelmaker's attempt to dismiss the whole suit. The courts had temporarily blocked a move by the plaintiffs to notify all U.S. Steel workers of their chance to join the suit, and those notifications can now happen, said one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, Aaron Maduff, in a news release.
"We were disappointed that the court put the notice on hold to consider the company's motion to dismiss. But now it is done, and we are delighted that the case can finally move forward," he said.
Maduff said it would be "premature" to consider appealing Miller's ruling on the clothing issue.
U.S. Steel officials were "pleased" with Miller's rulings on the protective clothing, showering and laundering issues, according to a written statement from company spokeswoman Erin DiPietro. DiPietro declined to comment on the workers' remaining claim over "walking time."
"Nevertheless, U. S. Steel will vigorously defend this only remaining claim in the lawsuit," DiPietro wrote.
The lawsuit first was filed in December 2007, and hundreds of workers from Gary Works and plants in Michigan and Illinois joined as plaintiffs in following months. Maduff has said some workers, under the suit's original claims, could have deserved a check worth a year's pay or more.
