Notes of Class Informational Meeting

On November 13 and November 14, 2002, meetings were held at the Washington VAMC with Laura Stefani and Class Agent, Fran Johnson-Feldmann. The meetings were held in the Potomac Educational Room. All class members were notified via mail of the meeting place/time 2 weeks prior. The conference was also made available for telecommunications for class members out of the Washington D.C. area and those unable to come in the area. All members present and available via telecommunication were requested to sign an attendance sheet.

Minutes from November 13, 2002 meeting

Fran Johnson-Feldmann addressed the group and introduced Laura Stefani, the lead attorney for the law firm Kator, Parks and Weiser, to the class members.

Fran Johnson-Feldmann verified that all class members had signed in and were given the following:
· Business cards with the law firm’s address, Email and telephone numbers
· Web page and email addresses –Laura Stefani stated that site was not up but to check in about a week that the person responsible for this is out of the office.

Web page-
· Laura Stefani will be posting questions and answers related to the case in the near future.

Laura Stefani conducted the meeting as follows
· The settlement agreement sent out by Regional Counsel via mail has most of the events of the lawsuit addressed in its contents.
· Events highlighted for attendees
o Two different complaints in 1993 and another in 1995 were included in litigation. Laura explained that the 1995 complaints were not initially included in the complaint but after objections were raised the judge moved to include the 1995.
o In late August, both sides began to start talking seriously regarding settlement with VA.
§ Gary Gilbert, who had been a former judge with the EEOC office in Baltimore, was the negotiator. The VA attorneys, Laura and other attorneys from the office and the class agent were involved in the negotiation settlement process. As a result of this lengthy process a settlement agreement was finalized.
· Agreement is confidential and has been signed by all parties
· Not all losses will be met. The majority were achieved through the process of “give and take” that goes on in the mediation process.
· Experts will calculate back pay losses.
o Numerous complex scenarios have been reviewed for how to calculate the actual settlement process
· EEOC vs. Federal Court Forum (Dept of Justice)
o Chose EEOC because of benefits for the Class. Court cases are much more expensive and the outcome is not always predictable.
o Must follow EEOC regulations
§ Disputes of members must be forwarded to the Judge by 11/28/02
§ Disputes will be reviewed by the Judge
§ Judge accepts or not
§ If / when accepted by judge, 30 days until pay out begins
· Payments
o 40% of the award monies will be paid first. This 40% goes to the contributing members.
§ Less difficult to calculate
o Formula developed was intent on being as fair as possible
§ Reward those members who kept case going for 10 years and took the greatest risk plus worked diligently on the complaint.
§ Based on other EEO settlements that used similar models for fund distributions
o Thrift Saving cannot be reinstated / adjusted
o Retiree’s options will in part be funded by OPM. This option is restricted to those who are already retired.
· Other EEO/Court complaints on Nurse Pay are thought to exist. St Louis filed a similar case and won their case.
o Let Laura know if have information on any other cases.
· Refer to page 5 of agreement
o There was confusion regarding a statement that states that the agency pays within 30 days- 60%. Explained that after settlement agreement is signed the VA will pay to the lawyers 60% of the total award.
o The lawyers will set up this escrow account (with interest).
§ Interest will be paid to the class members
§ Law office will be distributing the money, not the VA
· Not certain on the exact number in the class at present
o Approximately 150 letters sent out by the VA but there were 166 names on the list.
§ Not all class members are eligible to receive awards- depends on time and level of employment at times of suit
§ Fraction of years will be calculated
· Not required to be a full year to benefit
o Survivors of deceased members could get annuity
§ OPM would recalculate benefits for those decease survivors
§ Could end up getting a back check and then future annuity payments
o Class members can be in both the 40% and the 60% payment group
· Hurdles
o Judge must rule on fairness of settlement ruling- tendency is to agree so can move on
o 60 days waiting after ruling by judge
o Administrative legal staff to calculate amounts of awards that are based upon completed verification forms sent in by members. All members will be mailed a verification form that will need to be signed and returned to the lawyers. Only retirees will have option A and B.
Questions
· Not able to give out individual monetary amounts
o Still need to do calculations and define members
· Retirement options
o Verification forms must be completed and returned to lawyers within 15 days after final judge approval (The judge must enter an order that the settlement is fair.).
· Points
o Hope to see them be worth $900.00-1,000.00.
· Interest rate used
o Will be pegged to prime rate
· Income tax
o Federal will need to be paid in year payment is received.
o State requirement varies state to state (if taxable at all). Check your state.
· Signing release
o Due to fast turn around timelines, members are not likely to get specific individual award amount or specific calculation information before being asked to sign release.
· Team Leaders
o Reward those that did extra work
o Activities included: testifying in deposition, meetings with congress, upper management, EEO counselors, Medical Center Director, lawyers and personnel.
· Contributions
o Will be given 200% back for monies paid by members over the 10 years
· Continuing resolution will impact on release of money by VA
· The 40-60% percent split of award money was determined by past actions in the firm and other class action suits.
· Compensation for stress and time of active participants to be rewarded.

Specific (individual member) questions or anything members think of later can be directed to Laura Stefani by email and/or phone. Information had been provided regarding contact addresses/numbers for the class members.
K. Ritchey spoke and thanked Fran Johnson –Feldmann and Laura Stefani for all of their hard work. Fran thanked everyone for his or her support and team effort.

Recorder: Laura O’Grady