On January 3, 2024, the defendant in Heppard v. Dunham’s Athleisure Corporation filed an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, arguing that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District...more
Court also holds that arbitrability questions must be resolved by the arbitrator - The 10th Circuit has decided two significant issues in an otherwise garden-variety off-the-clock case, one relating to arbitration and the...more
A recent case from the Eastern District of California emphasizes the importance of employers having facially neutral and lawful wage-and-hour policies – as such policies can help in defeating class certification. In Tavares,...more
Last month, the D.C. Circuit deepened a circuit split on the issue of fail-safe classes. The decision, In re White, 64 F.4th 302 (D.C. Cir. 2023), rejected a categorical rule against all fail-safe classes in favor of a...more
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark opinion in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017), a question arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective actions is...more
On January 24, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California took the unusual step of declining to sign off — for the fourth time — on a proposed settlement, resulting from a putative class-action lawsuit...more
When a company faces a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action there are two main components to address: (1)You Can’t Put the Trial Cart Before the Certification Horse in FLSA Hybrid Wage-and-Hour Case; Circuit...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Plaintiffs asserting federal and state wage and hour claims in one action often pursue both class certification of state claims under Rule 23 and collective action certification under the FLSA. In that...more
On March 9, 2021, the United States District Court, Northern District of California issued a ruling in Handloser v. HCL Technologies Ltd., 19-cv-01242-LKH, 2021 WL 879802 (Mar. 9, 2021), applying the 2011 Supreme Court...more
Robinson v. Southern Counties Oil Co, 53 Cal. App. 5th 476 (2020) - Summary: Res judicata bars a PAGA claim when the employer has already settled a separate PAGA claim covering the same claims and time period. An...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit has held that the standard for final FLSA collective action certification is less stringent than the standard for class action certification under Rule 23....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: For nearly a decade, the aftershocks of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes have curtailed the success of plaintiffs attempting to certify class discrimination claims in...more
In a significant victory for employers and the principles of due process, the District of Minnesota recently joined several other federal courts around the country in holding that only workers with a connection to the forum...more
With the new year comes the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and the Ninth Circuit will issue a number of significant decisions spanning a range of topics in the employment arena. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: As detailed in our 2020 Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, 2019 was an interesting year for employers in terms of class certification rulings. Plaintiffs achieved the highest numbers of initial...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 15, 2020, in Guzman v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., No. 17-CV-02606-HSG, 2020 WL 227567 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 15, 2020), Judge Haywood Gilliam of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The second key trend from our 16th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report involves rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. Over the past few years, the Supreme Court has issued a number of rulings that...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Seyfarth’s 16th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report analyzes 1,467 rulings and is our most comprehensive Report ever at 800 pages....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
Antitrust class action counsel are in the business of extracting cash from defendants in the form of settlements that are, in effect, a tax on every transaction in the market covered by the case. The bigger the market, the...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently discussed class certification in state court wage and hour cases in Gammella v. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro....more
Every now and then a case comes along that rewards us class action nerds with an embarrassment of riches. Gammella v. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc., decided last week by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, is one such...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
Seyfarth Synopsis: At 852 pages, Seyfarth’s 15th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report analyzes 1,453 rulings and is our most comprehensive Report ever. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a recent decision, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rebuked a Pennsylvania district court’s skeletal analysis of plaintiffs’ class action claims. Particularly, the court took issue with the district...more