Los Angeles Times, "Farmers Insurance Ordered to Pay $52.5 Million in Suit"

          A federal judge has told Farmers Insurance Group Inc., the third-largest U.S. home and auto insurer, to pay $52.5 million to claims adjusters who say they were denied overtime pay. U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones in Portland, Ore., ruled Monday that Farmers, a unit of Zurich Financial Services of Zurich, Switzerland, must pay damages averaging about $50,000 to each of the 1,039 adjusters in seven states.
           The case arose out of a California lawsuit in which Farmers agreed in September to pay about $200 million to settle claims that it denied overtime to more than 2,000 workers. After success in that case, workers filed similar suits in various states, which were consolidated in the Portland court. In the case, Farmers contended that the adjusters were exempt from overtime laws on the basis that they were administrative employees. Plaintiffs countered that they were white-collar production workers entitled to overtime pay.