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Lawsuit

Wells Fargo to pay $12.8M overtime settlement

Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to pay $12.8 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that claimed some workers were denied overtime wages.

The suit claimed Wells Fargo unlawfully characterized business- systems employees who worked at the bank between 2001 and 2006 in California and other states, and performed routine tasks as ''analysts'' or ''consultants,'' making them exempt from overtime pay. As many as 4,500 people are covered by the settlement, though Wells Fargo officials refused to say Monday whether any in Utah were affected.

U.S. companies have faced an increasing number of class-action suits by managers who claim they are unfairly denied overtime pay. Workers have previously sued Starbucks Corp., Farmers Insurance Exchange Group, U-Haul International Inc. making similar overtime claims.Cablevision

Dolan family trying to buy out public shareholders

The Dolan family is again trying to take its company private, offering to buy out public shareholders of Cablevision Systems Corp. in a deal that values the cable TV operator at $7.9 billion plus the assumption of $11.3 billion in debt.

A separate bid from the Dolans last year ran into objections from the board, but this time the Dolans say they're making a simpler offer that should be more likely to succeed.

Under the terms of the new offer, which the Dolans detailed in a letter to the Cablevision board on Sunday, the family would offer public shareholders $27 per share in cash, a 12.8 percent premium to the stock's closing value on Friday.

The news sent Cablevision's shares soaring $2.57, or 10.74 percent, to close at $26.50 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bank merger

PNC expands its reach by buying Mercantile for $6B

PNC Financial Services Group Inc., one of the nation's largest regional banks, said Monday it is buying Baltimore-based Mercantile Bankshares Corp. for about $6 billion as part of an expansion plan targeting wealthy, fast-growing markets.

The Pittsburgh company said the cash-and-stock deal will further its growth along the affluent New Jersey-to-Washington corridor, adding hundreds of new branches in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia and Delaware.

The regional footprints of the two banks fit well together, he told analysts during a conference call. ''With their 240 branches, PNC will have market coverage of the wealthy East Coast corridor from the Hudson River to the Potomac,'' Rohr said.

Technology

Former HP CEO still

confused by her firing

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina says she remains puzzled about why she was fired last year and contends two board members who were prominent in the company's recent spying scandal likely engineered her ouster.

In her new memoir, Tough Choices, Fiorina says HP's directors never made clear why they wanted her to go, and ''didn't have the courage to face me'' to break the news.

HP's stock had lost more than half its value in her 5 1/2 -year tenure. But she believed the board agreed that the Internet bust and early 2000s recession were a major factor.

She suspects that her end at HP was sought by then-directors Thomas Perkins and George Keyworth, whom she saw as counterproductive meddlers. Before her firing she had rejected acquisitions and organizational changes they had suggested.

Military

Northrop to help Pentagon integrate defense systems

Northrop Grumman Corp., the third-largest U.S. defense contractor, has established an engineering center in Huntsville, Ala., that will use the company's simulation software to help the Pentagon integrate its air and missile defense systems.

The center, which will consolidate several operations in the Huntsville area, is scheduled to be operational in February, said Northrop, which also has operations in Utah.

The Alabama center will use Northrop's Global Engagement/Orbital Visualization Agent software to simulate air and missile defense scenarios from any perspective and allows user to determine the best rules of engagement.

Shares of Northrop declined 5 cents to $68.35 in New York Stock Exchange trading. They have risen 28 percent in the past year.