Nichols Kaster

1. Plaintiffs' Tactics Expose CAFA's Gray Areas

Monday, Feb 22, 2010

In the five years since the enactment of the Class Action Fairness Act, the plaintiffs bar has devised new ways to keep class actions in state court, exposing gray areas in the law and keeping defense counsel on their toes.

2. Fla. Tops List Of Hot Spots For New FLSA Suits

Tuesday, Feb 09, 2010

The number of new Fair Labor Standards Act filings in New York and Texas rose in 2009, but neither state came close to rivaling the volume of new FLSA cases in Florida. Law360 ranked the five busiest federal courts for wage-and-hour litigation and found the Sunshine State to be a hotbed of plaintiffs bar activity.

3. Class Cert. Denied In Health Temp Agency FLSA Suit

Tuesday, Feb 09, 2010

A federal judge has declined to certify a class in a collective action alleging Delta-T Group Inc., which runs a referral service that temporarily places workers at health care institutions, violated federal law by failing to pay workers overtime.

4. 11th Circ. Revives Paychex FLSA Collective Action

Friday, Feb 05, 2010

A federal appeals court has overturned a ruling that Paychex Business Solutions Inc. could not be held liable as an employer in a putative collective action claiming that a mortgage company that leased employees from the administrative services provider failed to compensate the workers properly.

5. Pizza Hut Drivers Sue Franchisees For More Dough

Wednesday, Feb 03, 2010

Two companies that run Pizza Hut franchises have been hit with a nationwide putative class action accusing them of improperly requiring delivery drivers to pay their own travel expenses, paying drivers less than the minimum wage and depriving them of delivery charges.

6. AT&T Plant Engineers Win Conditional Cert. In OT Suit

Wednesday, Feb 03, 2010

A judge has granted conditional class certification to current and former plant engineers who allege AT&T Corp.’s Wisconsin subsidiary violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by denying them overtime compensation.

7. AT&T Workers Ask Court To Hurry Class Certification

Tuesday, Feb 02, 2010

Outside plant engineers at AT&T Corp.’s Michigan subsidiary have moved to certify a class in a suit that accuses the phone giant of shorting them on overtime, saying they need to get the certification ball rolling before the statute of limitations expires.

8. New Strategies Lead To Big Title VII Payouts

Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010

Employers spent more than $120 million to settle Title VII litigation in 2009, with the retail and consumer services industry bearing the brunt of those payments as companies like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Outback Steakhouse of Florida Inc. dug deep to resolve discrimination claims.

9. Law360 Employment Editorial Advisory Board

Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010

Law360 is pleased to announce the formation of its 2010 employment editorial advisory board.

10. Employment Plaintiffs Firms Of The Year

Friday, Jan 01, 2010

Law360's notable employment plaintiffs firms of 2009 saw years of hard work pay off last year, securing big settlements for classes of workers in long-running wage-and-hour and discrimination cases.

11. Qwest's Bid To Decertify FLSA Class Shot Down

Thursday, Dec 17, 2009

A federal judge has denied a request by Qwest Communications International Inc. to decertify a class of the company's call center employees who allege that they have not been paid for time spent booting up and shutting down their computers at the beginning and end of the day.

12. New Vision Workers Win Anti-Retaliation Injunction

Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009

A federal judge has entered a preliminary injunction barring Tennessee cable installation company New Vision Telecommunications Inc. and its managers from retaliating against five employees who filed a class action against the company for allegedly misclassifying them under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

13. Distributor Settles OT Class Action For $3.6M

Friday, Dec 04, 2009

Anderson Merchandisers LP, a company that distributes books, CDs and DVDs to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has agreed to pay $3.6 million to settle a class action overtime suit filed by its sales representatives.

14. Waste Management Hit With New FLSA Suit

Wednesday, Oct 28, 2009

More than three dozen opt-in plaintiffs excluded from an earlier case accusing Waste Management Inc. of violating federal overtime pay standards have launched a putative class action claiming the company improperly deducted wages from workers for meal breaks regardless of whether they took a full half-hour.

15. AT&T Workers Win Conditional Cert. In FLSA Suit

Friday, Oct 23, 2009

A group of Michigan-based AT&T Corp. call center workers has won conditional class certification in a wage-and-hour battle against the telecommunications giant.

16. 7th Circ. Split On FLSA Coverage Of Oral Complaints

Friday, Oct 16, 2009

A federal appeals court has opted not to revisit its ruling in a retaliation case from a former Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp. employee, overriding three judges who consider the court’s interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act's anti-retaliation statute illogically narrow.

17. Parties Seek OK On $1M Deal In Bluegreen FLSA Suit

Tuesday, Oct 13, 2009

About 850 sales representatives for vacation time-share vendor Bluegreen Corp. have asked a judge to approve a settlement in their labor lawsuit that would award them $1 million.

18. Pizza Hut Delivery Drivers' Overtime Suit Tossed

Thursday, Oct 08, 2009

A federal judge has tossed a proposed collective and class action against a Pizza Hut franchisee after finding that the lead plaintiffs failed to adequately plead that their wages did, in fact, fall below the required minimum wage.

19. Insurance Exchange Investigators Win OT Judgment

Thursday, Oct 01, 2009

Twenty investigators who brought a putative overtime class action against California-based Farmers Insurance Exchange are not exempt from the from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act and California state law, a federal judge has ruled.

20. Ex-Starbucks Baristas Denied Cert. In Tip-Sharing Suit

Thursday, Oct 01, 2009

A federal judge has denied former Starbucks Corp. baristas' bid for class certification in a suit claiming the coffee giant violated Minnesota state law by forcing them to pool their tips weekly with other baristas and management.