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

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?

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

Authored by Hillary J. Massey

Employers have a new tool for opposing conditional and class certification of overtime claims by financial advisors and other exempt employees—last week, a judge in the District of New Jersey denied conditional and class certification of such claims because the plaintiffs failed to show that common issues predominated. The court, pointing to other decisions denying
Continue Reading Advising On Their Own: Financial Advisors’ Class Claims Defeated

EDNY-SealCo-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Howard M. Wexler

Plaintiffs’ counsel frequently speak of the “low” burden necessary at first stage for conditional certification under the FLSA.  However, a recent decision from the Eastern District of New York highlights that plaintiffs may win the battle over conditional certification but still lose the war for final certification at second stage.

In
Continue Reading Doing the “Two Step”: Court Denies Second Stage Certification of FLSA Claims

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

Co-authored by Richard Alfred, Patrick Bannon, and Daniel Whang

Companies burdened by an avalanche of wage and hour class and collective actions have been hoping that Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo might be the game-changing decision they have been waiting for.  If the oral argument before the Supreme Court this morning is an accurate indication (and it may
Continue Reading Where’s the (Pork)? Justices Sidestep Meatiest Issues at Oral Argument in Tyson Foods

Co-authored by Richard Alfred, Patrick Bannon and Esther Slater McDonald

In a case that could change how wage and hour class and collective actions are litigated, Tyson Foods, Inc. recently filed its opening Supreme Court brief. Tyson seeks reversal of a $5.8 million judgment in favor of meat processing employees who claimed to have worked off the clock.

As
Continue Reading Supreme Court Briefing Begins in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, A Potential Wage and Hour Blockbuster