NextEra Energy settles nuclear plant wage lawsuit for $9.5 million

By Mike Scarcella

May 12 (Reuters) - Florida Power and Light owner NextEra Energy NEE.N has agreed to pay $9.5 million and to cooperate with plaintiffs to settle a lawsuit in U.S. federal court accusing it and other commercial nuclear power plant operators of conspiring to suppress pay for thousands of workers since 2003.

Here are the details:

• Two power generation workers filed the proposed class action last year in Maryland federal court, accusing 26 nuclear plant operators and two consulting firms of illegally sharing wage information with each other in a conspiracy to keep compensation artificially low.

• Other defendants in the lawsuit include Constellation Energy (CEG.O), Duke Energy (DUK.N) and Pacific Gas & Electric.

• Florida-based NextEra and Florida Power & Light, which was also a defendant, will provide “material cooperation” in addition to paying into a settlement fund for affected workers.

• The settlement, which is the first in the litigation, is subject to approval by a judge, and more details of the accord will be disclosed later, the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs told the court. NextEra did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lead attorneys for the plaintiffs declined to comment.

• The power operators have denied any wrongdoing, saying the claims are “rendered all the more implausible by the fact that it supposedly occurred in one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world.”

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