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

Authored by Alex Passantino

‘Twas the week before Christmas, 2-0-1-5
When the poetry elves on the blog came alive.
Crafting their rhymes with a purpose so clear:
Presenting the wage-hour gems of the year.

In January, for new regs in this year our breath bated.
Then for six painful months, we speculated and waited.
And just as
Continue Reading I’m Dreaming of a White Collar: 2015 Year in Review

Authored by Noah Finkel

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a tough week last week.  It wasn’t just their loss to the Detroit Lions.  Defeats on Sundays are something with which the Bucs have grown accustomed.  Rather, last week the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Bucs’ attempt to have an adverse judgment against themselves would not end a
Continue Reading Can’t Win For Losing? Try Offering Complete Relief, Not Rule 68

Co-authored by Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Scott Rabe

“Sometimes surrender is the best option.”  That is how Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York described how the Rule 68 Offer of Judgment may be used by employers to pay—i.e., “pick off”—individual plaintiffs to defeat a broader and significantly more
Continue Reading Perfecting The “Pick Off”: Using A Rule 68 Offer Of Judgment To Get FLSA Collective Actions “Out”

Authored by Alex Passantino

It’s the week before Christmas, so you know it’s the time
For our review of the year—our wage-hour rhyme.
Our look-back on issues from the past 52 weeks
That grabbed the attention of you wage-hour geeks.

Leading us off is no big surprise:
FLSA filings continue to rise.
A 10% bump; they’re not going away,
Continue Reading Donning Your Kerchief and Doffing Your Cap: 2013 Year in Review

Authored by Steve Shardonofsky

What happens when an object with greater mass collides with a smaller object?  Yes, the smaller object typically bears the brunt of the force and splits into two or more pieces.  According to a recent decision by Judge Keith Ellison of the Southern District of Texas, this is exactly what happens when Fifth Circuit precedent collides
Continue Reading TO MOOT OR NOT TO MOOT—THE FIRST FLSA CASE IN TEXAS TO GRAPPLE WITH THE GENESIS HEALTHCARE RULING

Supreme Court Seal.jpgCo-authored by Richard Alfred and Jessica Schauer

The Supreme Court heard argument in Genesis Healthcare v. Symczyk on Monday.  See Transcript.  While the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case to decide whether putative collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act must be dismissed when the named plaintiff’s claim becomes moot, the argument focused on narrow procedural issues

Continue Reading Offers of Judgment, Mootness and Collective Actions: Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Genesis Healthcare v. Symczyk

sup court seal.bmpCo-authored by Richard Alfred and Loren Gesinsky

On June 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review whether an entire lawsuit is mooted when the employer in a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action makes an offer of judgment that would fully satisfy the sole plaintiff’s claims before any certification effort.  (Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk). 

Continue Reading Will Genesis Prompt Supreme Court Evolution in Distinguishing Collective and Class Actions?