Here’s a novel approach: What if you have an “off the clock” case where the court disfavors certification? Can you simply tack them onto claims in another pending class action lawsuit? That was the tactic attempted by the plaintiffs in In Re Wawa, Inc. Data Security Litigation, Civil Action No. 19-6019 (E.D. Pa., May 24, … Continue Reading
Court also rejects ‘fail-safe class’ allegations The restaurant industry has been among the hardest hit during the current pandemic, but that has not prevented plaintiffs from pursuing class and collective action claims against it. A recent case, however, has rejected two fairly common problems inherent in these kinds of cases. In Balassiano v. Fogo De … Continue Reading
Court directs application of a more rigorous and more sensible standard. Much of the current tsunami of wage and hour litigation across the country has been fueled by the use of a two-step procedure in Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) collective actions that simultaneously facilitates the bringing of such claims and puts unreasonable pressure on … Continue Reading
Virtually every brief seeking conditional certification will point to an employer policy that allegedly ties the collective or class together. But as a growing number of courts are recognizing, a uniform policy is not sufficient; rather, the plaintiffs must point to some classwide policy or practice that is actually illegal. That was the issue in … Continue Reading
What? I Need a Valid Claim to Represent a Class?! With scores of collective actions being filed every month and many courts willing to issue conditional certification on even very weak claims, it’s easy to forget that, yes, it’s important for there to be a claim in the first place. That’s one of the lessons … Continue Reading
“As far as overtime, you (like I) can only bill a 40hr work week even though we put in like 60hrs at times.” This isn’t exactly the email you want to see if you are defending an off-the-clock wage and hour claim, but it was one of several addressed this week by the District of … Continue Reading
In January 2014, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell raised eyebrows (and ire) when he announced that the league was considering eliminating the extra point after a touchdown. As Goodell put it, “the extra point is almost automatic,” given that it is kicked from the twenty yard line, and it is exceptionally rare that a professional NFL … Continue Reading
Employees win most motions for conditional certification under the FLSA, with many courts declining to perform a probing analysis at that stage. A recent case from the District of Minnesota, in which the court still applied a deferential standard, had the unusual result that the court granted conditional certification as to a single Chipotle store … Continue Reading