INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Legal Newsline)-A tentative agreement has been reached to settle a class action lawsuit brought against the state of Indiana by some if its employees who said they worked more hours than others for the same pay.

The settlement could cost the Hoosier State as much as $8.5 million affect as many as 15,000 state workers who worked for Indiana from 1973 to 1993.

The lawsuit, first filed about 15 years ago, claims that some state employees worked 40-hour weeks but received the same pay as others in similar jobs who worked just 37.5 hours a week.

Who is entitled to settlement money and what requirements have to be met will be set by a judge. Current and former workers will have 45 days to file claims.

Still unresolved is how or whether to compensate families of state workers who have died since the lawsuit was filed in 1993.

The state's varied pay system ended two months after the lawsuit was filed. The state mandated a 37.5-hour work week for all of its employees.

The class is being represented by attorney John Kautzman of Ruckelshaus Kautzman Blackwell Bemis & Hasbrook.

From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.