Archives: Collective Action

Spending Bill Would Place Class Action Waivers in Jeopardy

Only three years ago, the Supreme Court reversed the holdings of a large number of lower courts and held that class action waivers in arbitration agreements were enforceable. Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1612 (2018). We blogged about that decision here. With the Supreme Court’s ruling, many employers either adopted such agreements … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Limits Scope of Putative Nationwide FLSA Collective Actions on Personal Jurisdiction Grounds

By Greg Mersol on August 18, 2021 Posted in Collective Action

Four years ago, in Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court, 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017), the United States Supreme Court addressed an effort by plaintiffs to bring 600 product liability claims, mostly by non-Californians, in the form of a mass tort action in California state court. After analyzing the claims, the Supreme Court dismissed the non-California … Continue Reading

North Carolina Court Rejects Collective Action Based on Regular Rate Issues

By Greg Mersol on September 28, 2020 Posted in Collective Action

In some instances, it’s hard to see what benefit there is to a class action other than for the lawyers. This is particularly true in so-called “regular rate” cases challenging employer perks such as free meals, various kinds of bonuses, or other employee benefits. We’ve commented on these cases previously. A recent case raises these same … Continue Reading

Court Vacates Jury Award Due to Problems With Plaintiffs’ Expert Reports

By Greg Mersol on June 26, 2020 Posted in Collective Action

Few collective actions are tried, and even when they are, unexpected problems can easily arise. Those problems in a recent case led to the court vacating a jury verdict for the plaintiffs due to what might be characterized as an untimely expert report. But the case really came down to an initial expert report that … Continue Reading

Maryland District Court Grants Summary Judgment Against Collective Class in Claimed Misclassification Case

By Greg Mersol on April 21, 2020 Posted in Collective Action

Misclassification cases are grist for the mill in wage and hour litigation. As we have pointed out previously, the typical pattern is for the plaintiff to assert claims for unpaid overtime on the grounds that the position involved allegedly did not entail exempt work, to obtain conditional certification under the lower “stage one” procedure and then … Continue Reading

Yet Another Opinion Addresses the Availability of Class or Collective Arbitration and Whether It Is a ‘Gateway Issue’ for the Court – Herrington v. Waterstone Mortgage Corp.

By John Lewis on October 25, 2018 Posted in Collective Action

We didn’t expect to be discussing class or collective arbitration issues so soon, but we have repeatedly underestimated the resilience of these aggregate arbitration questions. (See our Nov. 11, 2013, March 12, 2015, Sept. 9, 2015, March 23, 2016, May 3, 2017, and May 2, 2018, blog articles dealing with “gateway issues” and the availability … Continue Reading

Ninth Circuit Affirms Decertification of FLSA Off-the-Clock Case

By Greg Mersol on September 21, 2018 Posted in Collective Action, FLSA

No, that isn’t a typo – it was the Ninth Circuit. Those familiar with collective action litigation are already familiar with the two-step paradigm most courts use to evaluate collective action claims. In the first stage, commonly misnamed “conditional certification,” the court determines whether to authorize notice to the putative class. In doing so, most courts … Continue Reading

Courts Deny Certification for Adequacy of Representation in Second Class Action

By Greg Mersol on February 16, 2018 Posted in Class Action Litigation, Collective Action, Wage and Hour

One of the tactics in the current plaintiffs’ wage and hour playbook is to bring a second claim after settlement of an initial class or collective action lawsuit. In these cases, the second set of claims is purportedly brought on behalf of those who did not opt in or participate, or it is for alleged … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Rejects Class Action Settlement With Key Documents Under Seal

By Dustin Dow on June 7, 2016 Posted in Collective Action

All’s not fair in secretive class-action settlements. If class actions are the exception (see Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes), then class-action settlements are a reflection of that exception. Specifically, the secrecy that might otherwise accompany dispute resolution is usually not permitted in class-action settlement, whether pursuant to Rule 23 or under the Fair Labor Standards … Continue Reading

Eighth Circuit Stays the Course in the Cellular Sales of Missouri Opinion, Rejecting the NLRB’s Arguments Against Class Waivers

By John Lewis on June 6, 2016 Posted in Class Certification, Collective Action, National Labor Relations Act

Following in the wake of an earlier opinion, the Eighth Circuit rebutted the National Labor Relations Board’s (“Board”) arguments that by requiring employees to enter into arbitration agreements with a class and collective action waiver, it violated the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). This comes only a week after the Seventh Circuit ruled in favor … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Issues Different Opinions on Retiree Medical Coverage After Tackett

By Greg Mersol on March 9, 2016 Posted in Collective Action

For 33 years, unionized employers in the Sixth Circuit had to deal with the holding and, worse still, the application of the decision in UAW v. Yard-Man, Inc., 716 F.2d 1476 (6th Cir. 1983), which created what it called an “inference” that retiree health insurance benefits under collective bargaining agreements would “vest.” Although Yard-Man itself … Continue Reading

Eleventh Circuit Rejects DOL Test in Internship Collective Action

By Greg Mersol on September 24, 2015 Posted in Collective Action

It is almost an axiom that the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq., passed in 1938, is out of date. Despite modest tweaks since the time it was enacted, a particularly dark time in the Great Depression, it is based on an economy that vanished decades ago. This reality pops up … Continue Reading

New York District Court Denies Conditional Certification of Second FLSA Collective Action

By Greg Mersol on August 27, 2015 Posted in Collective Action, Conditional Certification

Because of the low standard employed by many courts, decisions denying conditional certification in FLSA cases are generally in the minority, but some careful courts will continue to make such decisions. A recent case is notable not only for the fact that the court denied conditional certification, but also that it actually examined the events … Continue Reading

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case Addressing Scope of Wage and Hour Class and Collective Actions

By Greg Mersol on June 10, 2015 Posted in Collective Action, FLSA, Retail, Wage and Hour

It’s hard enough to predict what the Supreme Court will do on a given case even after it has been briefed and oral argument has been heard. It’s even harder when all we have is the decision accepting certiorari, but this one is important enough to note. The Supreme Court has now accepted certiorari in a … Continue Reading

Video Interview: Discussing Social Media and Class Actions with LXBN TV

By John Lewis on April 28, 2015 Posted in Class Certification, Collective Action, FLSA

Following up on my recent post discussing the use of social media for class action notices in a lawsuit filed against Gawker Media, I had the opportunity to discuss the subject with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN. In the interview, I explain what’s happening in this specific case and how it’s laid some ground rules for the … Continue Reading

Ohio District Judges Puts an End to Nationwide FLSA Collective Action Brought Against Lowe’s

By Gilbert Brosky on November 6, 2014 Posted in Collective Action, FLSA, Retail

While we have occasionally bemoaned the lenient conditional certification standard in FLSA collective actions, as the recent case of Triggs v. Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc., No. 1:13-cv-1897 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 19, 2014) shows, not all courts are willing to rubberstamp collective actions onto the second stage of litigation. The six plaintiffs in Triggs were former … Continue Reading

Another Federal Court Decertifies FLSA Collective Action of Hospital Workers Challenging Auto-Deduct Policy

By Gilbert Brosky on October 16, 2014 Posted in Collective Action, FLSA, Meal and Rest Periods

We have previously discussed that, while medical providers have become a common target of plaintiffs asserting wage and hour claims arising out of so-called “auto-deduct” policies, more and more courts are realizing that the inherently fact-specific nature of these lawsuits make class treatment very difficult. See our posts from June 23, 2014, and September 17, … Continue Reading

New York District Court Conditionally Certifies Class of Interns

By Greg Mersol on August 20, 2014 Posted in Collective Action, Conditional Certification, FLSA

A Blog About Bloggers Have you read any of the following lately? “Chinese Government Fans the Flames of the Ebola Zombie Rumors” “Arrested for Marijuana, Jackie Chan’s Son Could Face Execution” “Who is Dumpling All These Tuxedo Cats at a California Animal Shelter?” These are all recent headlines from various blogs run by Gawker Media … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Refuses to Uphold Collective Action Waiver Absent Arbitration

By Greg Mersol on August 11, 2014 Posted in Arbitration, Collective Action, Retail

My working title for this blog was “collective action grab bag,” concerning the recent Sixth Circuit case in Killion v. KeHE Distributors, LLC, Case Nos. 12-3357/4340 (6th Cir. July 31, 2014). I went with the title that seemed to be of interest to most practitioners, but the case actually touched on several issues, one of … Continue Reading

Third Circuit: Availability of Classwide Arbitration is an Issue for the Courts – Not Arbitrators – Unless the Parties Agreed Otherwise

By Joel Griswold on August 1, 2014 Posted in Arbitration, Collective Action, FLSA

Wednesday, the Third Circuit held that the determination of whether an agreement allows classwide arbitration is a question of arbitrability for the courts “unless the parties unmistakably provide otherwise.” Opalinski v. Robert Half International Inc., Case No. 12-4444 (3d Cir. July 30, 2014). In Opalinski, former Robert Half International, Inc. (RHI) employees filed a putative … Continue Reading

Second Circuit Finds Auditors Exempt and Endorses Limits on Class Discovery

By Greg Mersol on July 28, 2014 Posted in Collective Action

While the number of class or collective action lawsuits has exploded, decisions from Circuit Courts of Appeal, particularly on procedural issues, are still infrequent enough to warrant comment. In Pippins v. KPMG, Case No. 13-889-cv (July 22, 2014), the Second Circuit issued a decision that is notable not only for its decision on the merits, … Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Petition that Proceeding as a Collective Action Under the FLSA is a Non-Waivable Substantive Right

By Joel Griswold on July 2, 2014 Posted in Collective Action, FLSA

In the last week, we have seen several significant decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court. On Monday, however, the Court made a noteworthy “non-decision” by declining a petition for certiorari that raised the question of whether a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act is a non-waivable, substantive right. In Walthour v. Chipio Windshield … Continue Reading

The Supreme Court’s Sandifer Decision and Collective Actions

By Greg Mersol on February 5, 2014 Posted in Collective Action, FLSA

Last week, the Supreme Court decided the case of Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp., Case No. 12-417 (Jan. 27, 2014), addressing donning and doffing claims in the context of a unionized steel mill. That case not only addressed fundamental issues of how to determine whether safety gear is “clothing,” but also reflected concerns that … Continue Reading