Authored By Robert Whitman

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit will soon decide key issues for FLSA practitioners: whether settlements pursuant to an Offer of Judgment are subject to court review and approval, and whether the standards for final collective certification of FLSA claims are different from those for class certification of state law wage claims under Rule 23.

Two cases
Continue Reading What Do Sushi and Burritos Have in Common? Second Circuit Ready to Sample Tasty Wage-Hour Procedural Issues

Co-authored by Kristin McGurn and Kevin Young

Seyfarth Synopsis: At a time when the Massachusetts meal break landscape is increasingly friendly to employees, a federal judge in the state recently denied class certification in a meal break case, Romulus, et al. v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. At issue were store policies, common in retail, that called for in-store key-holder coverage whenever
Continue Reading Should I Stay or Should I Go Now: Federal Court Denies Class Certification to Supervisors Claiming In-Store Meal Breaks Violate Massachusetts Law

Supreme-Court-seaslCo-authored by Kara Goodwin and Noah Finkel

Pending before the United States Supreme Court is a petition for writ of certiorari asking the Court to determine whether an employer may use payments for bona fide meal periods as an offset/credit against compensable work time. If the Supreme Court accepts the case, it would also provide an excellent opportunity for the
Continue Reading No Good Deed Goes Unpunished – The Supreme Court May Decide Whether Payments for Meal Breaks Can Offset Alleged Off-The-Clock Work

iStock-513046321Authored by John P. Phillips

Seyfarth Synopsis: Recently the Ninth Circuit doubled down on its decision that service advisers at car dealerships are not exempt from the FLSA, despite being overturned once by the U.S. Supreme Court. This case gives the Supreme Court an excellent opportunity to address the proper construction of FLSA exemptions and allow the plain and common
Continue Reading The Ninth Circuit Goes All In. Will the Supreme Court Call?

Co-authored by Kyle A. Petersen and Molly C. Mooney

Seyfarth Synopsis:  The Second Circuit recently upheld a district court order denying a bid for class certification by personal bankers claiming their managers refused to approve timesheets with overtime hours, shaved reported overtime hours, and pressured them to work off the clock. Because the company’s policy governing (and limiting) overtime work
Continue Reading Too Personal To Proceed: Personal Bankers’ Certification Bid Bounced Again

Co-authored by Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.Tiffany Tran, and Julie Yap

Seyfarth Synopsis: Seyfarth Shaw submitted comments and oral testimony to the Federal Advisory Committee on Civil Rules regarding needed reform and guidance to Rule 23, the rule that governs class action litigation in federal courts. While the proposed amendments address important issues, our workplace class action group
Continue Reading Seyfarth Shaw Submits Comments And Testimony On The Proposed Amendments To Rule 23

Authored by Rachel M. Hoffer

It’s a common business model in the fast-food industry: a massive restaurant company provides the menu, the marketing—including catchy slogans and a universally recognized logo—and the basic operational standards for the restaurant,
and a franchisee provides the rest—including hiring, training, and firing restaurant employees. Unfortunately for the fast-food giants (the notorious FFGs, if you will)

Continue Reading Ostensible Agency, Hold the Class Certification: Would You Like Franchise With That?

Authored by Eric Lloyd

Seyfarth Synopsis: Minor league baseball players took a swing at class certification, and they missed—badly.

In Senne v. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp., et al., minor league baseball players across the country asserted wage and hour claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and various state laws against Major League Baseball (“MLB”), the Commissioner
Continue Reading Northern District of California “Shuts Out” Minor League Ballplayers’ Experts

Co-authored by Sherry Skibbe and Andrew Paley

Allstate Insurance Company “insured” a major victory last week in an off the clock class action pending in Los Angeles Superior Court, vindicating employers’ argument that plaintiffs cannot simply intone the magical incantation of “statistical sampling” as a means of collective proof in a class action. Rather, plaintiffs must proffer a detailed and
Continue Reading Court Insures Allstate Against Unsound Trial Plan Mayhem

Co-authored by Rob Whitman, Adam Smiley, and Nadia Bandukda

A federal judge has sided with Gawker in the media company’s legal battle with a former unpaid intern who claimed that he should have been compensated as an employee. On March 29th, Judge Alison Nathan in the Southern District of New York granted Gawker’s motion for summary judgment and
Continue Reading Gawker Victory Against Unpaid Interns Provides Helpful Roadmap