KQED Will Pay Nearly $900,000 to Settle Wage-Theft Class Action
KQED has agreed to pay nearly $900,000 to settle a class action lawsuit that accuses the news organization of wage theft and other labor violations.
Plaintiff Dominic Dulaney, on behalf of other KQED hourly employees, filed the suit in February 2024, alleging the San Francisco-based nonprofit failed to pay for all hours worked, including overtime; failed to provide meal breaks or permit rest periods; and failed to furnish accurate wage statements or produce employment records upon request, among other allegations.
“Defendants would, at times, manufacture time keeping records to falsely show that [Dulaney] and the Class took meal periods when in fact they worked ‘off-the-clock,’ uncompensated,” the complaint states. “Much of this unpaid work should have been paid at the overtime rate.”
KQED spokesperson Peter Cavagnaro said Thursday the organization denied the claims, but agreed to settle to “protect the station, our members and the community we serve from a protracted and more expensive legal battle.”
Dulaney worked at KQED as an hourly employee between May 2018 and November 2022. He was not a member of the station’s newsroom. He could not immediately be reached for comment, and attorneys representing Dulaney did not respond to requests for comment.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman granted preliminary approval of the settlement on May 4, and some KQED employees began receiving notices of the proposed payouts earlier this week. A hearing to grant or deny final approval of the settlement terms is scheduled for Nov. 4.
Under the proposed terms, KQED will pay a total of approximately $895,000, a little less than two-thirds of which could be distributed to more than 580 members of the settlement class — hourly employees who worked at KQED between August 2019 and May 2025.
Of that, KQED will pay $37,500 in fines to the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency, with an additional $12,500 in fines paid to hourly employees who worked at KQED between November 2022 and May 2025.
The amount each individual will receive from the settlement or associated fine depends on how many hours they worked during the time periods in question. Employees are also able to opt out.
As the class representative, Dulaney will receive up to $10,000, according to court records.
Representatives of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America — two unions representing KQED employees, including those who are party to the lawsuit — did not respond to requests for comment.
This story was reported and written by KQED senior editor Erin Baldassari and edited by KQED senior digital editor Emily DeRuy. Under KQED’s standard practices for reporting on itself, no member of KQED management or its news executives reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
Full Disclosure: Erin Baldassari was an hourly employee at KQED during a portion of the time period covered in the lawsuit. As of the time of publication, she has not received any correspondence regarding the proposed settlement.