Collective Action

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has just issued an important decision addressing “how stringently, and how soon, district courts should enforce Section 216(b)’s ‘similarly situated’ mandate” when considering motions for certification of collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The appeals court rejected the familiar two-step, conditional certification-followed-by-decertification approach…

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter work lives in profound ways, employers are confronted with additional liability risks. The pandemic has created a wave of litigation that is unlikely to ebb until well after the unprecedented public health crisis recedes. In this issue, Jackson Lewis attorneys discuss the risks of WARN Act litigation…

As federal and state safety and health guidelines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic call for extensive use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the workplace, employers should give their policies on “donning and doffing” a fresh look. Pandemic-related reopening orders issued by state and local governments may include requirements that will require employers to…

In a significant case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit just held it to be in error for a district court to order notice be sent to employees as part of a certification who, by a preponderance of the evidence, entered into a valid arbitration agreement.  If the employer…

Below is a link to the latest issue of the Jackson Lewis Class Action Trends Report.  This report is published on a quarterly basis by our firm’s class action practice group in conjunction with Wolters Kluwer.  We hope you will find this issue to be informative and insightful.  Using our considerable experience in defending…

The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (“DOL”) today rescinded Obama-era enforcement guidance that had made the tip credit unavailable to tipped employees who spend more than 20% of their time performing allegedly non-tip generating duties. The so-called “80/20” Rule has spawned a number of lawsuits, many of them collective actions, claiming…

Extending the Supreme Court’s recent decision in  Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1612 (2018), the Sixth Circuit has held that, just as with the NLRA, the FLSA does not preclude the use of class or collective action waivers in employment-related arbitration agreements.  Gaffers v. Kelly Services, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS…

It is a party that most employers don’t believe is a lot of fun: a FLSA collective action party.  In a case of first impression, the Eleventh Circuit addressed the question of whether an opt-in plaintiff is required to do anything beyond filing a written consent to become a party plaintiff in a collective action …

Below is a link to the latest issue of the Jackson Lewis Class Action Trends Report.  This report is published on a quarterly basis by our firm’s class action practice group in conjunction with Wolters Kluwer.  We hope you will find this issue to be informative and insightful.  Using our considerable experience in defending…

In the latest effort to argue that student athletes qualify as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), a class action lawsuit was filed last week in a federal court in Pennsylvania against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) and 20 universities.

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed…