Many times, plaintiff lawyers will try to file FLSA class actions as nationwide lawsuits so the size of the class and potential recovery can be magnified geometrically. Well, that just got a little harder to do as a federal judge rejected an attempt by a group of Outback Steakhouse front-of-house managers to continue as a
Class Actions
New Jersey Wage Deduction Class Action Revived by Appellate Division: More Independent Contractor Fallout
When employers classify individuals as independent contractors, they are not obligated to provide them with certain benefits, as they would statutory employees. Sometimes, if those individuals are found to not be independent contractors, those “failures” come back oftentimes to haunt the employers. Another example of this phenomenon has happened in that a New Jersey appellate…
Employers Must Be Aware of “Sneaky” Working Time FLSA Collective Action Cases
By Mark Tabakman on
I continue to blog about working time cases because these are the kind of lawsuits that can sneak up on an employer who does not realize that a certain pre-shift activity may in fact constitute working time under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This is again illustrated by a trucking company case where the Company…
Employee Status Will Not Be Determined by Judge in Conditional Certification Stage in FLSA Collective Action
By Mark Tabakman on
There is no industry that is immune to wage hour or FLSA actions, including amateur sports leagues. In an interesting case, a federal Judge has granted conditional class certification to a class of members of an amateur football league who worked as referees and who were, they claim, compelled to perform the work of refereeing…
Settling With (Only) the Named Plaintiff in Collective Actions: The Way To Go!
By Mark Tabakman on
Posted in Class Actions, Overtime Issues
I often preach that, when dealing with a class action, the employer should try to pick off the named plaintiff, perhaps overpaying to do so (or maybe not). In this interesting case, the parties settled (i.e. with the named plaintiff) right after the class had been decertified. The plaintiff had argued that he was misclassified…
Yet Another Store Manager FLSA Lawsuit: The Hits Just Keep On Coming
By Mark Tabakman on
Posted in Class Actions, Exemptions
When will employers learn? They keep classifying retail Store Managers and Assistant Managers as exempt, when these workers are often misclassified, not intentionally, but because the nature of their duties often tends to undermine the primary duty test and render them non-exempt. Another example is a recent case where Store Managers have been granted conditional…
Third Circuit Rules on Two Class Actions in Same Decision and Opines on Doctrine of Pendant Jurisdiction
By Mark Tabakman on
Posted in Class Actions
In a very interesting and off-beat decision, the Third Circuit has thrown out one class of loan officers who alleged misclassification but let stand the lower court’s decision that certified the case as a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case is entitled Reinig et al. v. RBS Citizens NA, and…
One Toke Over the Line: Employer of Marijuana Workers Seeking FLSA Overtime Defends By Asserting Its Business Is Illegal
By Mark Tabakman on
It is not often when an employer defends a FLSA lawsuit by asserting that it is in an illegal business and therefore immune to suit. Sound funny? Well, that is precisely what a Colorado employer that furnishes security services to legal cannabis growers/sellers has pressed on the Tenth Circuit. The employer’s theory is that the…
Judge Allows Named Plaintiff Expansive Ability To Communicate with Potential Opt-Ins in FLSA Collective Action
By Mark Tabakman on
When a class action is filed, often times there are issues (for the plaintiff and their counsel) as to who should be in the class. Often, the named plaintiff will seek to reach out to other putative class members, but it is not every day when a Judge orders that the plaintiff may telephone or…
Decertification of a Class and Rejection of Another Class in the Same Case: The Daily Double!
By Mark Tabakman on
This is an interesting case because it combines the elements of necessary, but not proven, commonality of situation for class certification and a quirky element of overtime calculation based on a unique FLSA provision. The bottom line is that the two workers who sought a class action on both the federal and state levels lost…