Inc. has agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle allegations it failed to properly pay wages and overtime to thousands of its Oregon employees for seven years.

Up to 20,000 former and current employees of

, ACS Commercial Solutions and Livebridge call centers in Oregon could be eligible for between $50 and $260 from the class-action settlement. Most are now

in the mail of the deal. They have until Sept. 1 to mail or fax their claims or to object to the agreement.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Thomas M. Coffin approved the

last month. The

filed in Portland, alleged ACS failed to pay proper wages and overtime at its Oregon call centers, in violation of state law and the Federal Labor Standards Act.

ACS denied violating any laws, according to the settlement. Company spokesman Kevin Lightfoot declined comment.

ACS employs 2,200 in Oregon at call centers, data center facilities, administrative offices and client sites, Lightfoot said.

.

The settlement provides $2.6 million for eligible employees of ACS in Oregon between April 2, 2005 and April 24, 2012. They include phone agents, customer care assistants and and customer care specialists working in ACS retail, travel, insurance, BPS, telecommunications and technology business groups.

The law firm representing the class,

in Vancouver, will get $1.7 million of the settlement. A legal associate at the firm declined comment on Friday.

Employees who brought the lawsuit – Lauri Bell, Mary Henderson, Julia Rosenstein and the heirs of Angela Hayes – share an $85,000 incentive award. All worked at ACS locations in Portland and Gresham.

Claims administrator Kurtzman Carson Consultants gets up to $100,000.

Any money not claimed within 30 days will go back to ACS, according to the settlement. A final settlement hearing is scheduled before Coffin in Portland Oct. 22.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleged call-center employees had to clock in for their shifts on their computer, but often spent time beforehand searching for an available work station or headset or waiting to have their password reset. They should have been paid for those delays, the lawsuit alleged.

It also alleged ACS failed to pay bonuses as promised and failed to properly count bonuses when calculating overtime.

ACS agreed any current employee's claim would not affect their employment at the firm or be disclosed to their direct supervisors.

Call centers in Oregon employed 11,000 workers in March 2012, the latest

. That's up from 9,300 two years earlier.

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