Another exemption lawsuit has been filed. What else is new? This time, a group of nurses and care coordinators determine who analyze requests for coverage from health care providers have claimed they are entitled to overtime because they are non-exempt. They have filed a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case is
Need For Too Much Individual Scrutiny Defense Fails: A Real Bummer!
The employer who is fighting a collective or class action must make the argument that there is too much of a need for individual scrutiny to allow a class to proceed. There are times that argument works, and times it does not. An Illinois federal Judge has recently conditionally certified a class of logistics workers
Employees Working In Slaughterhouse Settle FLSA Overtime Case: When Will Employers Learn?
It is amazing to me that employers still do not understand that there exists an inviolate obligation on their parts to pay proper overtime. It is not proper for an employer to believe that if it treats its employees “well,” or if its business is “green” and it tries to do the right thing by
Be Careful When Submitting FLSA Settlement Documents To The Court: Confidentiality and General Release Clauses Are Taboo!
I have settled numerous FLSA cases and note that there are many elements that management-side lawyers always want to see in such a document. One is a confidentiality provision as we do not want the employee “shooting his mouth off” over what he received in settlement. We also want as broad a Release as possible
Disturbing Ninth Circuit Holding On Inclusion Of Per Diem Expense Reimbursement In FLSA Regular Rate
As a general rule, employee expense reimbursements are not includible in the regular rate for purposes of overtime computation. When the reimbursements, however, are unreasonable or out of whack (i.e. too high) as regards the particular expense, then the USDOL takes the position that the reimbursements are really a backdoor way of paying the employee
Fifth Circuit Issues New Test For Determining Conditional Certification in FLSA Collective Actions: I Am Giddy!
I have often lamented how easy it seems for plaintiffs to secure conditional certification in a FLSA collective action. A few Affidavits, often identical in content, are produced and then, voila, the plaintiff gets conditional certification which then inordinately complicates matters for the employer and makes litigating the case and, of equal import, settling
Named Plaintiff in OT Class Action Dooms The Case By Her “Re-Inventing” Her Deposition Testimony: A Cautionary Tale!
In class actions there is always a named plaintiff (or two or three, etc). That person acts as the class representative and is the “flagship” for the entire case. When that individual does something to jeopardize their status as such a “representative,” the entire case might go away. That is precisely what happened in a
Bah, Humbug! Hospital Hit With Another Of The FLSA Collective Actions On Missed Lunches
The health care industry seems to be ground zero for a particular kind of class action lawsuit. Many of these health care institutions have policies where a thirty-minute lunch period is automatically deducted from the daily scroll of hours. This is quite understandable, from an operational perspective, as it usually is difficult for employees to
FLSA Joint Employer Doctrine At Issue In Health Care Industry Overtime Class Action: A Warning To That Industry!
In FLSA cases, plaintiff lawyers are always looking for a deep pocket and one of the avenues they use towards this “goal” is the joint employer doctrine. That doctrine allows more than one employer to be liable for employee damages (e.g. overtime, back wages) if the employers are found to co-determine employee terms and conditions
USDOL Seeks To Kick Out Private Lawsuit Asserting It Can Do Better For Employees: Can It?
Are two lawsuits better than one? Not for the employer, I can tell you that. A very interesting case is working its way through the federal courts now, where the US Department of Labor wants to take over a private lawsuit that has been filed alleging Fair Labor Standards Act violations. The government is contending