In Edwards v. DoorDash, Inc., No. 17-20082 (5th Cir. Apr. 25, 2018), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its position that arbitrability of claims, including whether class or collective claims must be arbitrated individually, is a threshold question that must be determined by the court prior to deciding certification motions. In Edwards, a driver asserted claims against a food-delivery service under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), asserting that he was ... Keep Reading »
Search Results for: Fair Labor Standards Act
FLSA Conditional Certification Standard Bites Plaintiffs
A district court in the Eastern District of Louisiana refused to conditionally certify a class of employees who accused their employer of intentionally underpaying and reducing hours from time records to avoid paying overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In Rowe, the named plaintiff and an opt-in plaintiff filed affidavits with their conditional certification motion, describing their personal experiences of having their working hours intentionally reduced ... Keep Reading »
Sample This! Tyson Employee Class Wins Significant but Narrow Supreme Court Victory
Tyson Foods lost its bid to overturn an almost $3 million class action judgment against it in a case brought by workers at an Iowa pork-processing factory who contended they did not receive overtime pay for time spent “donning and doffing” protective equipment. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in a 6-2 decision. Because Justice Kennedy (who wrote the decision) and Justice Roberts joined the majority, the loss of Justice Scalia had no apparent impact on the ... Keep Reading »
Supreme Court to Consider “Trial by Formula” and Standing of Non-Injured Class Members in Tyson Foods
The Supreme Court recently granted Tyson Foods' petition for certiorari which presents to the Court two important class action issues: (1) Whether differences among individual class members may be ignored and a class action certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), or a collective action certified under the Fair Labor Standards Act, where liability and damages will be determined with statistical techniques that presume all class members are identical to ... Keep Reading »
No Pay Required for Amazon’s Warehouse Workers During Post-Shift Security Screening
On December 9, the Supreme Court held that hourly workers in Amazon warehouses need not be compensated for the time they spent waiting to undergo security screening at the end of their shifts. The case, Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk, is the Court’s most recent opinion on the issue of compensatory time under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Integrity Staffing Solutions provides staffing for Amazon warehouses nationwide. Hourly warehouse workers ... Keep Reading »
Court Grants Motion to Strike Class Allegations
In granting a recent motion to strike class allegations, the Northern District of Illinois made two notable observations about such motions: first, they are not disfavored, but rather an appropriate device for determining whether a class action can proceed; and second, that in analyzing the putative class for conflicts, the court is not limited to the face of the complaint. In the case, plaintiff brought a putative class action alleging her employer withheld actual ... Keep Reading »
The Third Circuit Joins The Sixth And Holds That The Availability Of Class Arbitration Is A Substantive Question Of Arbitrability For Courts To Decide, Absent Clear Agreement Otherwise
“Because of the fundamental differences between classwide and individual arbitration, and the consequences of proceeding with one rather than the other, … the availability of classwide arbitration is a substantive ‘question of arbitrability’ to be decided by a court absent clear agreement otherwise,” the Third Circuit held. Two former Robert Half International, Inc. (“RHI”) employees brought an action, on behalf of themselves and others, alleging that RHI failed to ... Keep Reading »
Court Denies Motion to Remand, Rejecting Application of Home State and Local Controversy Exceptions to CAFA
The plaintiff filed a putative class action in Pennsylvania state court against two Pennsylvania defendants and one Virginia defendant, claiming that the defendants preyed on non-English speakers, illegally coercing them to enter into franchise agreements that circumvented the obligations of what were properly classified as employment relationships. The defendants removed under CAFA, and the plaintiff sought remand pursuant to CAFA’s home-state and local-controversy ... Keep Reading »