For the third time, Nike and plaintiffs’ lawyers in a sweeping sex discrimination lawsuit have sought more time to finish negotiating a class settlement.
The two sides reached a tentative settlement in February, shortly before a scheduled trial.
The parties initially had an April deadline to update the judge on efforts to finalize it, but they asked the court to give them until May 16. Then they asked to judge to give them until June 6.
Late Friday, they again asked for an extension, asking the court to give them until Aug. 20, writing in a joint filing that “several material terms remain pending.”
But there has been some recent progress at resolving the matter.
In late May, the parties settled Nike’s motion for attorney’s fees, according to the case’s electronic docket.
Nike had sought nearly $800,000 in attorney fees from Markowitz Herbold, the lead law firm for plaintiffs, related to the disclosure of some of the lawsuit’s records to a reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive, a matter that went all the way to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The lawsuit, filed in August 2018described Nike as a place where “women are devalued and demeaned” and systematically underpaid or passed over for promotions, allegations that the company has consistently disputed.
Separate settlements with the four remaining named plaintiffs in the lawsuit have already been reached, according to a joint February filing. Terms of those settlements have not been made public.
But the arrangement also included an agreement that other similarly situated current or former Nike employees could join a class settlement.
No terms of the proposed class have been made public, either. Before a judge rejected an earlier effort to make the lawsuit a class action, plaintiffs’ lawyers had tried to get a class of more than 5,000 women who had worked at Nike certified.
At a February hearing, a plaintiffs’ lawyer said it will take significant time to finish the class settlement, which will require notifying the class, a hearing, and obtaining the court’s approval.
