Teleworking: Amazing or amazingly complex?
It seems every week another call center case pops up. These are extremely dangerous cases for employers and that is why I keep writing (or, harping) about them, as a warning to employers, not only those who operate call...more
How many times have I written about working time cases, so called “off the clock” cases, where the claimed compensable time arises from preliminary or postliminary activities that are tied to (or not) the main job of the...more
The thorny issue of what constitutes “working time” is always causing headaches for employers and the pandemic period has increased these concerns greatly, with demands made for compensation for testing time, vaccination...more
Barriga v. 99 Cents Only Stores LLC, 2020 WL 3481717 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020) - Sofia Wilton Barriga filed this lawsuit against her employer, 99 Cents Only, alleging that the “zero-tolerance” policy requiring its stores to...more
Herrera v. Zumiez, Inc., 953 F.3d 1063 (9th Cir. 2020) - Alexa Herrera filed this putative class action against her employer, alleging that Zumiez failed to provide reporting-time pay to employees at its California retail...more
We’ve commented in the past that off-the-clock cases can make poor candidates for class certification, particularly when the employer’s policies require that employees perform work only while clocked in. ...more
In a favorable opinion for employers, the California Court of Appeal for the Second District concluded the following on December 4, 2019, in David Cacho v. Eurostar, Inc...more
On Christmas Eve, the Third Circuit issued a decision restricting certification of wage/hour classes for off-the-clock cases and increasing the threshold for other wage/hour matters. See Ferreras v. American Airlines, Inc....more
This month's key California employment law cases involve payment of wages, workplace conditions, public employment issues, and civil procedure....more
In Reinig v. RBS Citizens, N.A., a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit overturned a district court’s decision certifying a class of mortgage loan officers (“MLOs”) who claimed they were...more
Ruling also touches upon FLSA conditional certification order - Many wage and hour cases filed today try to name popular targets and to rely upon tried and true allegations....more
I have defended many off-the-clock working time cases and I submit that they are very dangerous for employers. This is because they are particularly amenable to class certification because it is likely that there is a common...more
I was reading recently about a lawsuit in which four plaintiffs’ law firms tried for years to pursue a class action lawsuit against a Chipotle operation up in Minnesota. The claim was that a shift supervisor at one of the...more
California’s wage-and-hour laws are the most protective in the country. These protections, however, often lead to bankrupting, class-action lawsuits. Originally posted in The Press-Enterprise and other Southern California...more
This edition of the Employment Flash looks at the new Department of Labor directive regarding contractor compensation practices; recent NLRB developments, including a draft rule regarding joint employment; the rise of...more
“Off the clock” work may prove costly, as retailers face a flood of putative class actions based on claims that employees were not compensated for required work duties. Recently, the parties in Samantha Jones v....more
I have often blogged (and am concerned about) working time issues, especially when they comprise the basis for a class action. These are “soft,” subtle activities that may rise to the level of compensable time, catching n...more
As any experienced class action litigator knows, the main issue driving the direction of a case is not always the merits of the claims themselves. Instead, the central question is often whether the claims can be certified as...more
The employment law landscape continues to be dominated by Workplace Law class actions. Jackson Lewis attorneys are defending hundreds of class and collective actions all over the country. Tapping into that experience, this...more
Allstate Insurance Company “insured” a major victory last week in an off the clock class action pending in Los Angeles Superior Court, vindicating employers’ argument that plaintiffs cannot simply intone the magical...more
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed yesterday to hear an appeal challenging a nearly $6.0 million judgment in a collective and class action case against Tyson Foods, Inc. In Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, a wage and hour...more
Off-the-clock cases involving call centers have been in vogue for a number of years despite lingering issues regarding whether they can truly be resolved on a class-wide basis. A recent case from the District of Maryland,...more
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again,” or so the adage goes. A recent case suggests that may not always be the right strategy or, more apropos to this blog, that off-the-clock cases make poor fodder for class...more
Most employers maintain a written timekeeping policy stating that non-exempt employees should accurately record their time worked. Yet many employers are still facing class action lawsuits alleging off-the-clock claims. Below...more
In some respects, one of the most difficult types of wage and hours lawsuits are so-called “off-the-clock” cases in which the employer has promulgated lawful time-keeping and compensation policies, but the plaintiffs contend...more