Proskauer’s second Value Insights: Delivering Value in Labor and Employment Law survey is now live and we want to hear from you. Value Insights explores how in-house counsel can maximize the value they provide to their business partners and correspondingly, how they can most effectively partner with outside counsel on managing labor and employment work.
Last week, in McCaster et al. v. Darden Restaurants, Inc. et al., No. 15-3258 (7th Cir. Jan. 5, 2017), the Seventh Circuit relied on Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338 (2011) and affirmed the district court’s denial of class certification of Plaintiffs’ claims for vacation pay under state law. The Seventh Circuit’s reliance on Dukes demonstrates that the Supreme Court’s holding extends beyond the discrimination context and applies with equal force in wage and hour class actions (at least within the Seventh Circuit). The Court concluded that Plaintiffs’ proposed class definition constituted an impermissible “fail safe” class because an individual’s membership in the class turned on the merits of his or her claim, and that Plaintiffs’ alternative class definition did not satisfy the commonality requirement of Rule 23 under Dukes. This decision exemplifies the critical balance plaintiffs must strike in defining their proposed classes; while a “fail safe” class will not be permitted, a class definition that is too broad will not satisfy the requirements of Rule 23.
Last year, Proskauer’s Labor and Employment Law Department conducted its inaugural Value Insights: Delivering Value in Labor and Employment Law survey, a resource that includes input from in-house decision makers on labor and employment matters and provides in-house counsel with tools to both more effectively help their business partners achieve their objectives and to
Yesterday, the Supreme Court held in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857 (U.S. Jan. 20, 2016), that when a defendant makes an offer to resolve the named plaintiff’s claim for full value, but the plaintiff turns it down, the case is not moot, and simply proceeds. Campbell-Ewald had argued that since it had offered to pay everything the plaintiff demanded, there was no longer any live controversy for the court to adjudicate, and the case should be dismissed. The Supreme Court disagreed, in a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Ginsburg.