Lawyers who represented Hilton Hotel employees in a class-actionlawsuit over their pension plan are entitled to $21.5 million infees, a U.S. District Court judge ruled.

The employees last year won a $140 million class action lawsuitagainst Hilton Corp. and its retirement savings plan overallegations the company improperly credited service time in aprocess known as backloading. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act containsregulations to prevent abusive forms of backloading. The practicecauses plan participants to accrue benefits slowly in their firstyears of employment.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, of the U.S. District Court forD.C., ruled last week that the employees’ attorneys, led by StephenBruce of Stephen R. Bruce Law Offices of Washington, D.C., wereentitled to 15 percent of the judgment against Hilton. The judgealso awarded the attorneys $603,000 in expenses. All of the moneywill be paid out of the fund established to pay as many as 23,000eligible Hilton employees.

“In light of the skill and dedication exhibited by classcounsel,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her opinion, “the substantiallength and complexity of this litigation, the risks assumed bycounsel, and the substantial benefits secured by counsel for theclass, the court concludes that a fee of 15 percent of the commonfund is fair and reasonable.”

Kollar-Kotelly also awarded a $50,000 incentive award to JamalKifafi, the lead plaintiff in the suit. Kifafi filed a lawsuit in 1998 and the class wascertified the following year. The case was the subject of 12rulings in various courts before being upheld by the U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals for D.C. in December 2012.