Plaintiffs seeking to certify a California class of current and former assistant stores managers and other differently titled managers and associates were denied class certification of their state law claims under Rule 23. Saks, Inc., the operator of high-end retail department stores across the United States, also convinced the district court to grant its preemptive
Conditional Certification
Employer Defeats FLSA Conditional Certification of Nationwide Class Of Former Gym Employees Limiting Class To Include Only Those Employees Who Worked in Gym’s South Texas Region
Given the lenient standard of proof required of plaintiffs, experienced wage and hour attorneys agree that employers, in most jurisdictions, fight an uphill battle when trying to defeat conditional certification of a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). When an employer cannot completely defeat a motion for conditional certification, the next best …
SDNY Certifies for Immediate Appeal Its Ruling That Fox Searchlight Interns Were “Employees”
In the spring of 2010, Nancy Leppink, then-acting administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division sent shock waves throughout the employer community and inspired the plaintiff’s wage and hour bar when she told the New York Times “[i]f you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit…
Motion for Conditional Certification Denied When Plaintiff’s Evidence Consists of Unsubstantiated Observations and Hearsay
Supermarket clerk asserting that she and others similarly situated had been denied overtime pay as a result of a time-shaving policy wherein her employer allegedly deducted one hour per day for lunch breaks while she and others were only provided 30 minutes for such breaks was denied conditional certification of her wage and hour claim…
SDNY Denies Class And Collective Certification In Pair Of Off-the-Clock Wage and Hour Cases
Generally speaking, certifying an off-the-clock wage and hour class action is quite difficult as the following two consolidated cases in the District Court of the Southern District of New York illustrate. Personal bankers who sought to bring such an action against Wells Fargo and Wachovia Bank (acquired by Wells Fargo in 2008) were unable to…
Chauffeur Transportation Company Defeats Conditional Certification of Class of Drivers Alleging Wage-Hour Violations under the FLSA
Because of a lenient standard of proof imposed on plaintiffs by most courts, employers rarely are successful at defeating motions for conditional certification, the first step of the two-step opt-in class certification process for collective allegations of wage and hour violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). So when an employer does defeat such…
Exotic Dancers, Other Gentlemen’s Club Employees Denied Conditional Certification
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas (Judge Susan Webber Wright) denied a FLSA 216(b) motion for conditional certification by seven former employees of a strip club in Jacksonville, Arkansas who filed a putative class and collective action against the club’s owners and managers alleging that they had been improperly…