The Future of Wage-and-Hour Class Actions feature


In the coming decade, complex issues will emerge, testing the definition of compensable work.


By: Garry Mathiason & Mark Thierman


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n 1938, General Motors Corp. started mass- producing diesel engines, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. began producing nylon fibers and most Americans worked in fixed brick-and-mortar worksites. That same year, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed, establishing the nation’s wage and hour laws. Factory whistles and manufacturing assembly lines have faded, yet the same laws that governed pre- World War II workplaces are being applied to jobs that did not exist in the 20th century. In this context, the recent history and future of wage and hour collective and class actions is examined. (Throughout this article


16 CA Employer September 2010


the term “class action” is intended to include “collective actions” under the FLSA.)


In 1993, a major West Coast retailer settled a wage- and-hour class action for $15 million with notices sent to 160,000 current and former employees. Suddenly, off-the-clock work, unpaid overtime and pay records requirements took on new meaning. The success of such lawsuits spread throughout the plaintiffs’ bar. From 2001 to 2006, federal court wage-and-hour class or “collective” action filings doubled, and the pace has accelerated. Michael Orey, “Wage Wars,” Bus.Wk., Oct.


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