Justin Hemmes’ hospitality giant, Merivale, has settled a massive underpayment class action for $18 million, but almost half that amount will go to lawyers and the litigation funder.

Merivale reached the without-admission settlement in response to allegations that it underpaid as many as 14,000 employees $129 million by relying on a decade-old WorkChoices agreement that paid below the industry award and was never validly approved in the first place.