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Outside sales reps for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Synthes, who accused the company of failing to cover business expenses and illegal wage deductions, last week won a $5 million settlement in their class action lawsuit. 
Lead plaintiff Troy Lindell was an outside sales rep for Synthes from 1999 until 2011 in Fresno County, Calif., according to his December 2011 complaint. Although Synthes pledged to reimburse him for the 200 miles a week he spent on the road and for the office supplies and equipment he needed to do the job, the company allegedly failed to live up to that promise, according to the complaint.
Synthes also allegedly cut Lindell’s wages for failing to provide completed purchase orders or for providing purchase orders with slight errors, he claimed in the lawsuit.
“His wages were reduced by 50% of the cost of the item sold to the medical facility, even though the item had many times already been implanted in a patient,” according to the complaint, which also accused Synthes of failing to provide Lindell with a copy of his personnel file despite 2 requests.