A challenge to the legal procedure judges use to decide whether workers can pursue federal wage-and-hour claims collectively as a group will face a significant legal test at oral argument before a federal appeals court in Ohio.
Ohio-based home health-care provider A&L Home Care & Training Center will urge the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Wednesday to overturn a lower court’s August 2021 order that conditionally certified two collective actions accusing the company of denying overtime and travel time pay to home health aides. The district court denied certification of a related proposed collective class seeking reimbursement of vehicle expenses associated with performing job duties.
The Sixth Circuit’s review of the certification rulings could set precedent on whether plaintiffs in collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act should face a higher standard when seeking to resolve their claims as a group rather than individually.
The FLSA allows “similarly situated” workers to bring federal wage-and-hour collective actions against their employers, but neither Congress nor the US Supreme Court has clarified the proper procedure to certify these cases. At least the Fifth Circuit, in a decision last year, adopted a heightened standard requiring district courts to allow discovery early in the case and rigorously scrutinize whether potential...
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