A federal judge granted Condé Nast preliminary approval Monday to pay $5.85 million to settle a lawsuit filed by by thousands of former interns suing the publisher for what they deemed underpayment.
The settlement covers close to 7,500 interns who previously worked at Vanity Fair, Vogue and the New Yorker from June, 2007 to today; the payouts are expected to be between $700 and $1,900 per intern.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman, called the decision reasonable:
“Given defendant’s size and stature in the publishing world, I assume it could withstand greater judgment,” Pitman wrote. “This fact, by itself, however, does not render the proposed settlement unfair.”
Pitman scheduled a follow-up hearing for June, 2015 for consideration of final approval of the settlement. In April, the publisher settled a class-action lawsuit with two former interns, who sued claiming they were underpaid according to New York Labor law.