conditional certification

In our latest issue of the Jackson Lewis Class Action Trends Report, we look back at the most significant developments affecting employment class and collective action litigation in 2022. We also look ahead at potential new challenges in store for employers in 2023.

Read the Winter 2023 Class Action Trends Report.

With this issue

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

The District Court for the Southern District of New York refused to conditionally certify a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) acknowledging that although the bar for conditional certification of a FLSA collective action is low, “it is not this low.”  Sanchez v. JMP Ventures, LLC, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14980

On February 26, 2014, Jackson Lewis will host its California Employment Class Action Summit at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach, CA.  Experienced Jackson Lewis class action litigators will present on a variety of topics including:

  • Developing the Initial Defense Strategy
    • Reviewing the Complaint
    • Early Strategic Considerations
  • Key Strategies in Defeating Class & Collective Certification

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 

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

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

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

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