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Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles


Association Events


maintaining your wage-and-hour class action


in state court The enactment of the Class Action Fairness Act has made it easier for a defendant to remove a class action to federal court. The struggle over venue is often an important indicator of an employer’s exposure and risk


By Shawn Khorrami and Crystal S. Yagoobian In 2010, wage-and-hour


Khorrami Yagoobian


litigation outpaced all other types of workplace class actions. In fact, there have been far more wage- and-hour class-action and collective-action decisions by federal and state court judges than in any other area of workplace litiga- tion. Collective actions pursued in federal court under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) (29 U.S.C. § 216(b)) out-


numbered all other types of private class actions in employment-related cases. In


22— The Advocate Magazine APRIL 2011


light of this steady rise in employment lit- igation, a pivotal area of contention between plaintiffs and defendants is venue selection, namely federal versus state court. Defendants and plaintiffs have various motivations as to their pre- ferred choice of forum in the context of wage-and-hour class actions since the ulti- mate decision on venue can directly impact an employer’s risk of exposure. Generally speaking, plaintiffs often


prefer to pursue their class action in state court. The decision to file a class action in state court is often motivated by sever- al factors, including the inherent attrib- utes found in federal courts under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This article explores the benefits of selecting a state-court forum for class-certification


purposes in light of these attributes and provides some background on the advan- tages of selecting a state-court forum in the context of wage-and-hour litigation. The article then discusses the impact of the enactment of the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), which changed the landscape of the forum-selection issue by facilitating the removal of class actions from state to federal court and expanding federal diversity jurisdiction in class actions. Finally, the article explores several measures that class counsel can take to avoid removal of their wage-and- hour class actions to federal court or to maintain a strong position supporting remand to state court.


See Maintain, Page 24


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