Category Archives: Class/Collective Action
Subscribe to Class/Collective Action RSS Feed5th Circuit: Arbitration Available for Employee’s Collective Action Claims
Massachusetts SJC Weighs in on Wage Act Class Actions and Offers of Judgment
On Friday April 12, 2019, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court confirmed that plaintiffs seeking to bring class actions asserting Massachusetts Wage Act (“Wage Act”) violations must meet the certification standards set by Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (“Rule 23”), and cannot avail themselves of a lower bar to class certification. In Gammella v. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, … Continue Reading
DOL Proposes Updated Regular Rate Rules
Even at a gathering of employment lawyers, HR professionals, and compensation veterans, one of the easiest ways to clear the room is to begin a discussion on the regular rate of pay. Few other topics, even within the general subject of wage and hour law, evoke such a universal sense of bewilderment, if not unbridled … Continue Reading
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court OK’s Attorneys’ Fees for Wage Act Settlements
As has been long anticipated, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently gave a green light to plaintiffs’ attorneys seeking a fee award under the Commonwealth’s Payment of Wages Act, even where an action ends in settlement. The Wage Act (Mass. General Laws ch. 149 §§ 148, 150) awards costs and fees when an employee “prevails” … Continue Reading
Proskauer Delivers Webinar on Settling Employment Claims
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Employers in Upholding Arbitration Agreements Containing Class Action Waivers
SDNY Denies Approval in FLSA Settlement Based In Part on Overly Broad Non-Disparagement Clause
In its November 17, 2017 opinion in Galindo v. East County Louth, Inc. (No. 16 Civ. 9149), the Southern District of New York denied a motion to approve an individual FLSA settlement, including on the ground that the settlement agreement contained what the Court deemed to be an overly broad non-disparagement provision. In the settlement … Continue Reading
Seventh Circuit Limits Ability to Moot Claims of Class Representative in the Wake of Campbell-Ewald
Trump DOL Presses Pause Button on Appeal of Overtime Rule Injunction
Remember the new federal overtime rule that was going to double the minimum salary for the “white collar” exemptions? In November, a Texas district court issued a nationwide injunction preventing the rule from taking effect. The DOL successfully petitioned the Fifth Circuit for an expedited appeal of the injunction in December, and briefing was to … Continue Reading
Proskauer’s Value Insights Survey is Now Live
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. … Continue Reading
Recovery of Liquidated Damages Under Both FLSA and State Law Improper, Says Second Circuit
In a summary order issued on December 7, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit–in Chowdhury v. Hamza Express Food Corp., No. 15‐3142‐cv–held that an award of liquidated damages under both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law with respect to the same violation was improper: [The Labor Law] does … Continue Reading
Participate in Proskauer’s Value Insights Survey
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 work with … Continue Reading
Fifth Circuit Instructs that, When Raised, Arbitrability is a Gateway Issue that Must Be Considered Prior to Conditional Certification in FLSA Collective Actions
On October 4, 2016, the Fifth Circuit in Reyna v. International Bank of Commerce instructed district courts that when the issue of arbitrability is raised in a prompt motion to compel, it should be decided at the outset of the litigation—even prior to deciding conditional certification in FLSA collective actions. Reyna builds upon the Fifth … Continue Reading
Proskauer Releases Survey Results on Value Insights: Delivering Value in Labor and Employment Law
Proskauer’s Labor and Employment Law Department is pleased to announce the release of 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 … Continue Reading
College Athletes Not University Employees, Says Federal District Court
On February 16, 2016, a federal district court in Indiana held that former athletes at the University of Pennsylvania were not university employees entitled to the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The plaintiffs—former track and field athletes at Penn—brought collective action claims against Penn, the NCAA, and more than 100 other colleges … Continue Reading
Second Circuit Revives Putative Collective Action
On July 23, 2015, the Second Circuit, in Lola v. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Tower Legal Staffing, Inc., revived a putative collective action brought by David Lola, a contract attorney, against Skadden and Tower Legal Staffing, Inc., alleging violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Second Circuit … Continue Reading
