Thursday, November 16, 2023
2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern
1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Central
12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mountain
11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Pacific
A lot has happened in the 10 years since our national Wage and Hour Litigation Practice Group wrote ALM’s authoritative Wage & Hour Collective
Continue Reading Upcoming Webinar: Time Well Spent Session 3: Certification and Decertification
Co-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Needhy Shah
Seyfarth Synopsis: A judge in the Southern District of New York held that FLSA off-the-clock claims could not proceed collectively because the employer’s policy enforcement and approval of overtime compensation varied by supervisor.
In Lynch v. City of New York, Judge Katherine Forrest rejected an attempt to prosecute a single collective
Continue Reading “Similarly Situated” Seriously Scrutinized by Southern District
Co-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
Co-authored by Christopher M. Cascino and Jennifer A. Riley
Seyfarth Synopsis: A federal district court last week decertified and effectively grounded a collective action of O’Hare Airport janitorial staff who claimed that their employer forced them to work off-the-clock without compensation. This decision, Solsol v. Scrub, Inc., stands out as a significant victory for employers because, even though all of
Continue Reading Court Grounds O’Hare Janitors’ Collective Action For Off-the-Clock Work
Authored 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?
Authored by Michael Kopp
With all the drama of a get-away chase, the Third Circuit recently brought to a screeching halt plaintiffs’ counsel’s elaborate maneuvers to end run repeated decertification of their FLSA actions, and held as a matter of first impression in Halle v. West Penn Allegheny Health System, Inc. that opt-in plaintiffs have no right to appeal decertification.
Continue Reading Opt Ins are Out (of Luck) Appealing Decertification
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 Noah A. Finkel and Abad Lopez
The demise of bank loan underwriters’ exempt status has been greatly exaggerated—at least according to a recent Sixth Circuit decision upholding the dismissal of a putative collective action against Huntington Bank. The court disagreed with underwriters who alleged that they were improperly classified as exempt and thereby wrongfully denied overtime pay. Instead,
Continue Reading Classifying a Loan Underwriter as Exempt Is a Risk Worth Taking, Says Sixth Circuit
Co-authored by Robert Whitman, Cameron Smith, and Meredith-Anne Berger
Former brokers of Fordham Financial Management will have to put this one in the “loss” column. Judge Paul Crotty of the Southern District of New York granted Fordham’s motion to decertify the FLSA collective in their lawsuit alleging they were misclassified as independent contractors.
The brokers initially succeeded in
Continue Reading Brokers Take a Bath in FLSA Collective Action