Equity Prime Mortgage is asking a judge to enforce a six-figure settlement slated for its former employees in a wage case, a deal the workers' attorneys say isn't real. 

The company this week claims the parties agreed to a $660,000 payout last summer, and that the plaintiffs' attorneys are now reneging on that deal. The agreement would resolve a lawsuit filed last April by three former EPM employees, who say the wholesale lender didn't pay overtime wages in the past three years to loan openers, loan processors and loan closers. 

Attorneys for the workers told National Mortgage News Wednesday that there is no settlement, and that EPM's recent motion regards an agreement that "does not exist." They also filed a motion to impose sanctions on EPM last week, because their attorneys allegedly dragged their feet and provided tepid responses to numerous discovery requests. 

"Plaintiffs will oppose Equity Prime's motion and will provide the court with significant detail regarding the company's efforts to impose upon underpaid processors, openers, closers, and others, an inadequate resolution of their unpaid wage claims," wrote attorney Paolo Meireles of Shavitz Law Group on behalf of employees, in an email Thursday. 

Neither an attorney for EPM nor a company spokesperson responded to requests for comment. 

The same attorneys for plaintiffs are also representing a former EPM underwriter in a separate overtime pay class action lawsuit in Georgia federal court, which remains pending. 

An alleged settlement

The class action suit filed last spring seeks to certify subclasses of employees in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. The complaint doesn't specify the total number of affected employees, but each subclass identifies at least 50 potential EPM workers. 

In reaching an agreement last year, EPM claims it estimated the total "work weeks" owed to workers because it could not access historical payroll data from a prior system. The lender's attorneys say they made clear to plaintiffs the work weeks wouldn't be accurate because of the payroll issue, and other factors such as undetermined leaves of absences by employees.

"We thought the data could be overstated based on how we calculated an estimate for pre-Paycom," wrote attorneys for EPM, referring to their new payroll system. 

The lender argues that attorneys for plaintiffs are now backing out on agreeing to the settlement, in asking to adjust the number of work weeks to raise the settlement amount. 

Bad faith dealings

In their motion for sanctions, plaintiffs say EPM failed to respond to numerous discovery requests in recent months, and eventually shared meager data only a few weeks ago. In one correspondence, an EPM attorney allegedly said the lender "does not use e-mail much" to explain a lack of responses to discovery requests regarding employee information.

"It is clear Defendant has been less than forthcoming," wrote Meireles in the filing. 

In addition to fining EPM, plaintiffs want the judge to certify their classes as punishment, including tri-state area employees spanning back to 2019. 

The Atlanta-based EPM, which transitioned into a wholesale lender in 2023, originated over $3 billion in loan volume last year, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. The lender was penalized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development last year over certain elevated default and claim rate data, and was hit with additional restrictions on origination activity in January.