Co-authored by Fred Sanderson, Brandon McKelvey, and Ferry Lopez
Judge Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California refused to certify a proposed class of assistant managers at WinCo Food’s discount warehouse grocery stores in California. In Gales v. WinCo Foods, No. C 09-05813 CRB, 2011 WL 3794887 (N.D. Cal 2011), a former
Authored by Jeff Burns
On September 22, 2011 the IRS announced a new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP) that allows companies (technically, any taxpayer) to voluntarily reclassify workers as employees for employment tax purposes in exchange for partial relief from federal employment taxes that would otherwise be owed for the period of time prior to the reclassification. In describing the
Continue Reading IRS Announces Voluntary Program For Companies to Reclassify Workers as Employees
Authored by Michael Fleischer
On August 12, 2011, the plaintiffs in Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the 9th Circuit’s decision holding that pharmaceutical sales representatives for GlaxoSmithKline are exempt from overtime as outside sales employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Ninth
Continue Reading Petition for Supreme Court Review Filed in Pharmaceutical Sales Rep Case
Authored by Kyle Petersen
On July 12, 2011, a federal district court in the Southern District of Florida jumped into the divide over whether pharmaceutical representatives are exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements. In Palacios v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the court granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff, holding that she was not properly classified as exempt
Authored by Laura Reathaford
How should employers classify junior accountants who perform accounting work but do not hold a CPA license? The Ninth Circuit has provided an answer: employers may, depending on the nature of the work performed, classify these employees as exempt from overtime pursuant to California’s “learned professional” and administrative exemptions. While this decision is based on state
Authored by Abad Lopez
Because the two mechanisms are ‘incompatible,’ a proposed class of assistant bank managers cannot pursue an opt-out Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 class action and an opt-in Fair Labor Standards Act collective action in the same lawsuit, a federal district court has held. A common strategy employed by Plaintiff’s counsel is to bring both 
FLSA and analogous state wage claims
Continue Reading In Hybrid Class/Collective Actions, Plaintiffs Can’t Have It Both Ways
Authored by Dana Fleming
The Ninth Circuit recently affirmed a district court decision to decertify a class of full-time supervisors employed by United Parcel Service, Inc. (“UPS”) where the only basis for class-wide treatment was UPS’s uniform policy treating all of its supervisors as exempt from overtime pay and meal- and rest-break requirements. A common strategy of plaintiffs’ counsel is
Continue Reading What Can Brown Do For You? A Lot in Breaking Up a Class Action
Authored by Barry Miller
A Detroit jury has handed a major win to the defendant employer in an overtime case brought on behalf of mortgage loan officers, rejecting the plaintiffs’ argument that they were sales employees with limited decision-making authority. As we recently reported, the Henry v. Quicken Loans case went to the jury on Monday, March 14, after more
Continue Reading Jury Hands Total Victory to Quicken Loans in Mortgage Loan Officer Overtime Case
Authored by Barry Miller
Overtime class actions are now at epidemic proportions in the mortgage lending industry. Dozens of lenders and brokers have been sued since the Department of Labor issued an Administrator’s Interpretation in March 2010 reversing the Department’s prior guidance regarding the application of the FLSA’s administrative exemption to mortgage loan originators (MLOs). However, a number of MLO
Continue Reading First Major Mortgage Loan Officer Overtime Case Headed to Jury
At 10 a.m. EST today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision to deny certiorari in Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. v. Lopes et al. This surprising pronouncement means that the Court will not review the controversial decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, reported at 611 F.3d 141, ruling that pharmaceutical sales representatives for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation