Lawsuit Proceeds Benefit Nonprofit

Telegram & Gazette

Business Briefs

 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

WORCESTER — Part of a $1.3 million settlement that resolved a conflict between the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Pittsfield and its employees has been donated to the nonprofit Community Legal Aid Inc. 

 

The charitable gift of $15,000 is a “cy pres” payment from unclaimed funds from the May 2012 settlement and will support free legal services for low-income and elderly individuals and families in Central Massachusetts, according to a press release from the law firm that won the settlement, Krokidas & Bluestein of Boston. 

 

According to the release, the settlement involved a case alleging that Crowne Plaza waiters, bartenders and other staff had not received the full sum of tips and service charges that they were owed for work at the hotel. In October 2012, checks for thousands of dollars were mailed to dozens of workers, with many longtime employees receiving more than $10,000. Berkshire Superior Court approved the designation of CLA to receive the $15,700 in unclaimed funds rather than returning them to the hotel. 

 

CLA has full-time offices in Worcester, Springfield, Northampton and Pittsfield, as well as satellite offices in Fitchburg, Southbridge, Milford, Greenfield and North Adams, according to the organization’s website. court.