Articles Discussing Employment Law Class Actions

Seventh Circuit Adopts More Flexible Standard for Issuing Notice in Collective Actions

In a significant shift from longstanding precedent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh rejected the widely used two-step “Lusardi”1 framework for issuing notice in collective actions under Section 216(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),

On August 16, 2024, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on whether out-of-state plaintiffs must satisfy personal jurisdiction requirements to participate in a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In a 2–1 decision, the Seventh Circuit held they must, joining the Third, Sixth, and Eighth

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit joins a growing number of federal circuits to hold the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court, that sharply limited the use of nationwide multi-plaintiff suits, applies to putative Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective actions. Vanegas v. Signet Builders, No. 23-2964 (7th Cir. Aug. 16, 2024).

The Sixth Circuit has become the second federal appeals court to toughen the standard for plaintiffs seeking court-authorized notice to potential claimants in a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). On May 19, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held in Brooke

On May 19, 2023, in Clark v. A&L Home Care and Training Center, LLC., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected the familiar two-step certification procedure in collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), instead requiring lead plaintiffs to demonstrate a “strong likelihood” that other

A federal district court located within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has adopted the heightened standard for certification of a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) established in a 2021 landmark opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Mathews v. USA Today Sports Media Group, LLC, No. 1:22-cv-1407 (E.D. Va. Apr. 14, 2023).

On April 14, 2023, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Ellis, J.) declined to conditionally certify a collective of USA Today sports website editors, ruling that the familiar two-step Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective certification process would lead to irrelevant parties learning of and

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to settle the circuit split on whether its 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of Cal. applies to collective actions brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In Bristol-Myers, a mass tort action, the justices held that a federal court could not exercise specific