A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order halting the enforcement of Assembly Bill 51, California’s latest attempt to prevent arbitration of claims brought under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act....more
Many litigants in FLSA cases find practical obstacles in settling the matters, particularly when there are disputes regarding what exactly has happened or when the underlying claim turns out to be very small....more
How Many Decades of Litigation is Enough?
On retreating from Russia after the disastrous 1812 invasion, Napoleon famously commented, “It is but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous.”...more
We’ve noted many times that while employees prevail on most motions for conditional certification under the FLSA, employers tend to prevail on the second stage motion for decertification. ...more
What were they thinking, anyway?
Eighteen months ago, a group of African American financial advisors brought suit against JPMorgan Chase for alleged race discrimination and retaliation....more
A significant amount of wage and hour class/collective jurisprudence has developed around the issue of whether exotic dancers are employees or independent contractors....more
But Do You Really Want To In All Cases?
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) was the largest statute ever passed by Congress at the time it was enacted and has only grown further since then. ...more
In collective actions under the FLSA, courts typically apply a lower standard to the first “conditional certification” stage. ...more
We’ve commented many times before that relatively few collective actions survive the “second stage” motion to decertify or, relatedly, an unofficial “third stage” when the trial court actually considers how the matter will be...more
Two years ago, we blogged a pair of cases with similar fact patterns and outcomes involving the successful use of time studies (See our October 13, 2017 and October 16, 2017 blog posts). ...more
Connecting the dots will likely be a problem down the road . . .
The overwhelming majority of employment class or collective actions today are wage and hour matters....more
An FLSA collective action involving exotic dancers is brought in 2008 and settles in 2011. Five years later, the same attorneys file essentially the same case with many of the same dancers as class members against some of the...more
Some cases look a lot more important at first glance than what they turn out to be. Case in point, today’s decision in Fort Bend County, Texas v. Davis, Case No. 18-525 (U.S. Sup. Ct. June 3, 2019). The Court’s holding was...more
6/5/2019
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Amended Complaints ,
Appeals ,
Charge-Filing Preconditions ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Forfeiture ,
Fort Bend County Texas v Davis ,
Jurisdictional Requirements ,
Mandatory Claim-Processing Rules ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Title VII ,
Waiver Rule ,
Wrongful Termination
Section 16(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the provision that requires those participating in a federal claim for minimum wages or overtime to opt in to the class, making Rule 23 inapplicable. The same...more
We’ve noted before that while conditional certification motions are often granted, such classes fare far less well at the second decertification stage and just as poorly on the eve of trial....more
More games of cat and mouse -
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1632 (2018), plaintiffs have tried to come up with strategies to address the impact of arbitration agreements...more
Welcome to the 2018 Year-End Report from BakerHostetler’s Financial Services Industry Team . We are pleased to share our analysis of some of the key developments in the financial services industry in 2018 and our expectations...more
3/27/2019
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Borrowers ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Lenders ,
OCC ,
Payday Loans ,
Virtual Currency
In yet another challenge regarding the employment status of students and interns as employees, the Second Circuit has concluded quite rightfully that vocational students – even those at for-profit institutions – are still...more
Expert’s Report Didn’t Adequately Explain Causation -
While antitrust cases are often good candidates for class action treatment, it is still important for the plaintiffs to demonstrate a connection between the alleged...more
Most employment class actions today are wage and hour matters, but class actions for alleged discrimination are still brought and can present their own unique challenges for both plaintiffs and the defense....more
On Jan. 8, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision regarding an important procedural issue under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc., No. 17-1272, it held...more
1/11/2019
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitrators ,
Contract Terms ,
Exceptions ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Henry Schein Inc v Archer and White Sales Inc ,
Judicial Review ,
Motion to Compel ,
Question of Arbitrability ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Wholly Groundless Doctrine
Extensive expert report still fails to establish fairness and manageability for trial.
A growing number of courts are questioning classwide proof in off-the-clock cases, and those examining expert testimony in such matters...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
A claim is brought against a large employer contending that, although personnel decisions are made locally, it discriminates in pay and promotions on the basis of sex nationwide. Sound familiar? That was, essentially, the...more
FLSA Conditional Certification Denied Too - The position of mortgage loan officer has been a fertile source of wage and hour claims, but a recent case from the Central District of California reflects that certification of a...more