The owners of 16 McDonald's restaurants in Pennsylvania are paying $1 million to settle a lawsuit claiming they violated state law by paying hourly employees strictly with fee-laden debit cards

Editor's note: In a story Oct. 25 about a legal settlement reached with the owners of 16 McDonald's restaurants over the use of fee-laden debit cards to pay employees, The Associated Press erroneously reported the size of the settlement, the amount of the individual payouts and the number of recipients. The settlement was for $1 million, not $3 million. Eight lead plaintiffs, not the entire class of 2,400, will collect $1,250 each. Remaining plaintiffs who filed settlement forms before the deadline, a number McDonald's put at just under 300, will receive $100 plus reimbursement of any fees incurred.

WILKES-BARRE — The Clarks Summit couple who owns 16 McDonald’s restaurants in the region has settled a class-action lawsuit over paying employees with fee-laden debit cards for $1 million, according to an order filed in court Tuesday.

Terms of the settlement, reached between franchise owners Albert and Carol Mueller and the plaintiffs, were revealed in an order Luzerne County Judge Thomas F. Burke Jr. filed in court approving the resolution. The settlement calls for eight of the lead plaintiffs to collect $1,250 each, and for other members of the class to get $100 plus reimbursement for any fees incurred, said Beth Dal Santo, spokeswoman for McDonald's of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Dal Santo said that of about 2,400 plaintiffs, 297 submitted the paperwork to collect the settlement.

The parties previously disclosed they had settled the suit, but did not divulge the terms.

Burke’s order calls for the plaintiffs’ attorneys to collect $858,500 in fees and court costs, an amount the judge described as justified and reasonable.

The lawsuit contended that the J.P. Morgan Chase payroll cards issued to local McDonald’s employees carried fees for nearly every type of transaction, including a $1.50 charge for ATM withdrawals, $5 for over-the-counter cash withdrawals, $1 to check the card’s balance, 75 cents per online bill payment and $10 per month if the card is left inactive for more than three months.

The settlement comes after Burke in June 2015 ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that paying employees exclusively with a debit card did not fall in line with the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law. The law mandates that workers be paid by “lawful money” or check.

The state Superior Court last year upheld Burke’s decision.