On November 8, 2013, Jackson Lewis held its Employment Class Action Summit: Key Strategies for Defending Class Actions at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. The purpose of the event was to inform attendees of the significant trends in employment class action litigation and offer key pre- and post-litigation defense strategies. Experienced Jackson
Department Store Retailer Defeats Class Certification Of State Wage-Hour Claims And Preemptively Defeats FLSA Certification In Cross-Motion
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
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
Second Circuit Upholds FLSA Collective Action Waivers
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued its much-anticipated decisions in Sutherland v. Ernst & Young and Raniere v. Citigroup Inc. affirming the use of Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) collective action waivers contained in arbitration agreements.
For an excellent summary of the Second Circuit rulings, visit Jackson Lewis’ Wage and
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
Rule 68 Offer of Judgment Does Not Moot Individual FLSA Claim, Notwithstanding Recent SCOTUS Ruling
A Rule 68 offer of judgment affording complete relief to two named plaintiffs and one opt-in plaintiff does not moot the plaintiffs’ individual claims in an action for overtime compensation pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and parallel provisions of the N.Y. Labor Law (“NYLL”) , a federal court ruled on Monday. Velasquez
District Court Grants Hearst Interns’ Motion for Appeal to Second Circuit
Former unpaid interns at the Hearst Corp. may have their denial of class certification reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The District Court of the Southern District of New York (Judge Harold Baer, Jr.) granted the interns’ motion to certify the court’s opinion and order of May 8