Court did not clearly err in refusing to sanction a settlement under the statute due to the fact that the attorneys' fees had not been negotiated separately from the underlying claim, given the simultaneous negotiation in emails, calculation of fee on the basis of the the case proceeding without settlement, and implicit tying of the agreement on fees to the agreement on the underlying claim.
Award of de minimis attorneys' fees was an abuse of discretion, as the amount must be determined by determination of the lodestar value by multiplying the hours and the rate.
Given that the only rmaining matter is the calculation of attorneys' fees, no plain error sufficient to reassign on remand.
DISSENT:
Negotiating a wage claim simultaneously with the fees creates a significant conflict of interest. Plaintiffs counsel, in fee negotiations, said that deft was getting a "pretty sweet deal." Court below held that lodestar was inapplicable on this record.