Payless Settles Lawsuit On Overtime

A group of 266 current and former employees in nine Western states has settled a class-action lawsuit alleging that PayLess Drug Stores failed to pay them overtime.

The size of the settlement approved last week by U.S. Magistrate Larry Boyle in Boise is confidential, an attorney for the plaintiffs said Thursday.

But Newal Squyres, who filed the March 1993 complaint on behalf of four Boise-area PayLess employees, said each of those who eventually joined the lawsuit will receive “a substantial monetary recovery.”

“The settlement fairly compensates the class members for the hard work and long hours they endured at their jobs,” he said.

Employees involved in the lawsuit are from Idaho, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Utah.

PayLess Drug Stores Northwest Inc. denied any wrongdoing throughout the case.

“Our policy has been and continues to be to pay people fairly for the work and responsibility performed,” Dennis Down, PayLess vice president for human resources, said in a statement issued by the company.