Florida Court Denies Conditional Certification in Tip Credit Case

By Greg Mersol on February 17, 2021 Posted in Class Certification

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

Florida District Court Denies Conditional Certification in ‘Tip Credit’ Case

By Greg Mersol on August 27, 2020 Posted in Class Certification

Tip credit issues are inherently difficult. Section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act permits an employer to count tips toward a portion of a tipped employee’s wages to meet the minimum wage (and in some instances overtime) requirements of the Act. The Department of Labor, however, has gone back and forth over the requirements for … Continue Reading

A Lawful Job Description Doesn’t Support Conditional Certification

By Greg Mersol on June 5, 2020 Posted in Conditional Certification

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