The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a default judgment against Outokumpu Stainless USA in a case alleging the steelmaker improperly calculated wages for employees at its Calvert plant.

However, the court vacated the $13 million damages calculation from the U.S. District Court of Southern Alabama and asked that the lower court provide more information on its reasoning, setting up potentially an even bigger payout for the plaintiffs.

“Years of obstinance, dozens of discovery violations, and unceasing attempts to blame others finally caught up with Outokumpu,” Circuit Judge Britt Grant wrote in a scathing opinion. “Even on appeal, the company displays a remarkable lack of contrition.”

In 2018, four Outokumpu (sometimes abbreviated to OTK) employees sued the company, arguing that the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act with a series of wage and hour practices that improperly lowered employee’s take-home pay. Hornady et al v. Outokumpu Stainless USA is a collective action.

But in 2022, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock ordered that Outokumpu pay around $13 million in damages to the plaintiffs as part of a default judgment against the company. Beaverstock entered the default judgment in 2021 after OTK failed to provide timesheets and other discovery materials on numerous occasions.

“This case is lamentable. Mercifully, it is rare,” Beaverstock wrote in the introduction to his 2021 default judgment against Outokumpu. “Here, the Court is compelled to protect not only plaintiffs but the court itself from a defendant’s pervasive bad faith.”

Both OTK and the plaintiffs appealed this ruling to the 11th circuit court.

But Outokumpu received little mercy from the appellate court. In her opinion, Grant noted that the company failed to produce the needed records on 12 separate occasions. The company tried to shift blame to its payroll processor, ADP, Grant said, until ADP informed the court it was willing to cooperate.

“Confronted with a merry-go-round of broken promises and blatant misrepresentations, along with an upcoming wage-and-hour trial for which no wages or hours were known, the district court issued the only sanction remaining in its arsenal: default judgment,” Grant wrote.

The plaintiffs appealed the case to the 11th circuit as well, arguing that the lower court improperly limited its damages calculation after Outokumpu argued the damages should be limited under a statute of limitations.

The court upheld the plaintiff’s argument and asked the lower court to provide more information.

“Of course, we’re pleased with the 11th Circuit’s opinion affirming Judge Beaverstock’s rulings. A lot of people are one step closer to receiving money that they earned years ago,” Ian Rosenthal, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said. “Both OTK and its employees would be better off today if when it got sued OTK had simply paid its employees what they were entitled to and changed the pay practices that did not conform to the law.”

A representative for Outokumpu did not respond Saturday to a request for comment. However, in a previous statement to AL.com, an attorney for the company said it “vehemently disagreed” with the default judgment.

“We’re eager to defend our wage and hour practices on the merits in front of the district court,” the company said in an email.

This isn’t the only wage and hour lawsuit filed against Outokumpu. A 2021 class action suit, Callier et al v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC, alleges similar labor violations. That case remains pending, and several individual complaints have been filed related to the Callier case.

Another lawsuit filed in 2021, Gibson v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, went to trial last spring. After a weeklong trial, the jury determined the plaintiff was entitled to no money. The plaintiff requested a new trial. In February, Beaverstock did not grant a new trial but ruled in favor of the plaintiff and awarded around $3,500.

Outokumpu Stainless USA is a subsidiary of Outokumpu Oyj, a Finnish company and one of the largest stainless-steel producers in the world. According to the company’s 2021 annual report, Outokumpu is the leading stainless-steel manufacturer in Europe and the second largest by market share in the Americas.

Court records indicate that around 1,000 people work at the Outokumpu mill in Calvert. The company shares a campus with AM/NS Calvert, a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel.