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A Federal Court in New York recently agreed with an Arbitrator’s award permitting the employees to seek their New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) and Fair Labor Standard Act (“FLSA”) claims on a class-wide or collective action basis, despite the arbitration agreement not expressly giving the employees this option.  The employees worked as tipped, hourly food service workers at their employers’ restaurants.  During their employment, the employees received a handbook with a dispute resolution policy (“DRP”) and they also received a ...

In the first class-wide settlement of its kind, employees of a home care agency reached an agreement with their employer to settle their overtime compensation claims.  The New York State Court approved a settlement that awarded the employees $1.1 million.  The employees worked as home health aides for McMillan’s Home Care Agency.  The employees alleged that their employer failed to pay them overtime at one and one half times their regularly hourly rate, despite frequently working up to 60 hours ...

The Supreme Court of the United States recently decided in Christopher v. Smithkline Beecham Corp. that pharmaceutical sales representatives are not entitled to overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) because they satisfy the ‘outside salesmen’ exemption.  The Court based their decision on the nature of the pharmaceutical sales reps’ position and the rules and industry wide practices set forth in the pharmaceutical sales industry.  A pharmaceutical sales rep’s objective is to enter into as many nonbinding commitment ...