COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

14.  COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Operating Leases

We lease facilities and equipment under various non-cancelable operating leases.  Some of these leases have renewal clauses that vary both in length and fee, based on our negotiations with the lessors. Rental expense, including equipment rentals, for 2011, 2010 and 2009 was $9,590, $10,039 and $7,652, respectively.  As of December 31, 2011, future minimum rental commitments for operating leases and future minimum rentals to be received under non-cancelable subleases were as follows.

	Minimum Lease		Minimum
	Payments		Sublease Receivable
2012	$	9,693	$	512
2013	8,030		357
2014	7,228		306
2015	3,952		—
2016	2,541		—
Thereafter	4,350		—
Total minimum lease payments	$	35,794	$	1,175

Capital Leases

We lease equipment under various non-cancelable capital leases.  As of December 31, 2011, future minimum rental commitments for capital leases were as follows.

	Minimum Lease
	Payments
2012	103
2013	20
2014	7
Total minimum lease payments	$	130

Legal Proceedings

On February 2, 2011, certain former employees of StarTek USA, Inc., filed a putative collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, alleging that they were owed overtime compensation for alleged work performed before and after regular shifts.  The plaintiffs sought overtime compensation, liquidated damages, and other relief for themselves as well as for all other customer service representatives and technical service representatives located throughout the United States who performed alleged uncompensated overtime and who were employed by us three years before the commencement of the civil action.  At the time that the case was filed, we believed that there was no merit to the case and vigorously defended the suit.  Following conditional class certification, plaintiffs mailed notice to approximately 22,000 potential plaintiffs; however, only 1,759 individuals timely opted-in to the class.  This opt-in rate was substantially lower than the parties anticipated.  Following a second mediation session on October 27, 2011, we agreed to settle the case for $550, including liquidated damages, attorney’s fees, and costs of settlement administration which was recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Other Comprehensive Income (Loss).

We have been involved from time to time in other litigation arising in the normal course of business, none of which is expected by management to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.