Does a plaintiff’s allegation, that he was about to join a pending Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective (class) action against his former employer, combined with the employer’s knowledge that he was a potential class member, sufficiently constitute being “about to testify” in an FLSA proceeding, such that former employer’s actions in prohibiting the plaintiff from working for its subsidiary might constitute unlawful retaliation under the Act?
Yes, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Uronis v. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 25727 (3d Cir. Sept. 14, 2022). The Third Circuit has jurisdiction over the federal courts in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Virgin Islands.
The FLSA prohibits discrimination against employees who have engaged in “protected activity” which, in part, includes having “testified” or being “about to testify” in any FLSA-related proceeding. 29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3). In February 2019, a former coworker of plaintiff Matthew Uronis filed a collective action lawsuit against both Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation and a transport and rental company, claiming that the two companies were joint employers and that they failed to properly pay overtime to members of the class, in violation of the FLSA. Uronis, who also had been employed by the transport and rental company – and therefore arguably had been jointly employed by Cabot – fell within the putative class of individuals set forth in the...
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