A U.S. magistrate judge in Newark has approved a $1.2 million settlement of an overtime suit against Galaxy Recycling of Jersey City on behalf of residential trash collectors who claimed they were denied overtime pay.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre granted final approval on June 9 to the settlement, which provides $442,689 in fees and $7,310 in costs for plaintiffs firm Virginia & Ambinder of New York and another $10,000 to primary named plaintiff Juan Luna Dominguez. The award was based on a partner billing rate of $550 per hour, associate rates of $250-325 per hour and staff rates of $125 per hour.

Among the factors weighing in favor of the settlement are a bankruptcy petitionunder Chapter 11 by Galaxy, which limits recovery to a co-defendant and related entity, Joseph Smentkowski Inc., Wettre said. Smentkowski Inc. has represented that it has no capacity to pay the damages sought, said Wettre, who said she was satisfied that defendants could not withstand a judgment much greater than the proposed $1.2 million settlement fund.