Time Limitations and Court Supervision in Class Actions Under the FLSA and the ADEA

Basically, when someone files a lawsuit, they might think that the time limit for the lawsuit is paused. But for certain laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), this might not be true. If the lawsuit is on behalf of other people too, the time limit might not be paused for them. So, it’s important to be aware of these rules when filing a lawsuit. If someone believes they have been discriminated against because of their age at work, they have a certain amount of time to file a complaint with the EEOC, depending on the state they work in. In some states, they have 300 days, and in others, they have 180 days. After filing a complaint, they may have to wait 60 days before they can file a lawsuit. If the EEOC ends their investigation, the person has 90 days to file a lawsuit.

If a group of employees want to file a lawsuit together under the Fair Labor Standards Act, they all have to agree to be part of the lawsuit. They can’t just automatically be included. This is different from other types of lawsuits where people can choose not to be part of a lawsuit. This rule has been confirmed by several courts. When a single person files a legal action, it starts as soon as the complaint is filed. But when multiple people file a lawsuit together, they have to also file consents to join the case. The court has ruled that just because there are multiple people involved, it doesn’t automatically make the case a “collective or class” action. The lawsuit has to specifically say that it’s on behalf of unnamed individuals. In a couple of cases, the courts said that the filing of consents wasn’t necessary because the lawsuit was made up of individual suits, not a group one. If you want to join a lawsuit about fair pay, you have to say in your complaint that you’re suing on behalf of others. But just saying that doesn’t automatically make it a group lawsuit. It only becomes a group lawsuit when someone else joins in and files their own paperwork. So if you wait too long to join, the time limit for you to file your own lawsuit might run out. It’s kind of like being late to the party and missing out on the fun. In the case of Bonilla v. Las Vegas Cigar Company, the court ruled that a lawsuit can be considered a collective action if it is brought on behalf of parties not named in the complaint, even if those parties don’t initially join the lawsuit. This means that the clock for their claims keeps running until they do join the lawsuit.

Under the ADEA, individuals who have not filed a timely administrative charge with the EEOC can still join a class action lawsuit if their claims are similar to those of the named plaintiff and arise from the same discriminatory treatment. The requirement for class members to be similarly situated is not as rigid as in other types of lawsuits.

In some cases, the court may find that the class members are not similarly situated, especially if they have vastly different employment situations. However, if they have been affected by a pattern and practice of discrimination, they may still be considered similarly situated.

When it comes to the timing of when a class action lawsuit is considered to have commenced for an individual, there is a split among the courts. Some believe that it starts when the individual’s consent is filed, while others believe it relates back to the filing of the original complaint. In the case Grayson v. K Mart Corporation, the court said that the statute of limitations for bringing a claim under the ADEA is not paused for opt-in parties until they officially join the lawsuit. This is because the court believes that the ADEA should follow the same rules as the FLSA. However, another court in the case Sperling v. Hoffman-LaRoche said that the statute of limitations is paused for all opt-in plaintiffs once the original complaint is filed. They argued that the ADEA should follow the same rules as class action lawsuits under Rule 23. In the case of Hipp v. Liberty National Life Insurance Co., the court said that only certain people can join a lawsuit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). To join, a person must have a claim that happened at the same time as the original lawsuit and must have been able to file a claim on the same date as the original lawsuit. Also, a person can’t join if their claim happened after the original lawsuit was filed.

For the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a person can go straight to court without filing a claim with an administrative agency first. But if they want to join a class action lawsuit, they have to do it within a certain time frame. And they can only get compensation for the period of time before they joined the lawsuit. The FLSA requires that people in a lawsuit be in similar situations, which can be a challenge. A court case called Grayson v. K Mart Corporation allows a wide range of claims to be considered as similarly situated, which is different from other types of cases. For example, if a group of employees are all claiming they didn’t get paid for overtime and the defense is that their job is exempt from overtime pay, they could all be part of the same lawsuit. The same goes for employees claiming they weren’t paid for time they spent on-call and required to sleep at work, or employees who weren’t paid for the time they spent training. If an employer is found to have a pattern of not paying employees for all the hours they work, they could be in big trouble under the FLSA. When a representative plaintiff and potential class members have been identified in an ADEA or FLSA case, both sides’ lawyers have to figure out who can join the case and if they are all in similar situations. Rule 23 helps the court handle class actions, but the FLSA doesn’t give as much guidance. However, the Supreme Court said in Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc. v. Sperling that the court can make sure potential class members are discovered and can be part of the notice process. This helps the case move forward and makes sure everyone involved is treated fairly. The court’s authorization of notice helps to keep the legal process organized and moving quickly. In one case, the court set a deadline for people to agree to be part of the lawsuit, so that everything could move forward efficiently. It’s important for the court to stay neutral and not show favoritism to either side. In another case, the court used a two-step process to decide who could be part of a class action lawsuit. First, they made a preliminary decision based on the information they had, and then they gave potential class members the chance to officially join the lawsuit. When a lawsuit is filed as a class action, the court has to decide if the people involved are all in similar situations. If they are, the case can go to trial as a group. If they’re not, the case goes back to being just the original person’s claim. It’s important for the lawyers to make sure the named plaintiffs agree to represent the whole group from the beginning. They also need to make sure that everyone in the group has similar claims and that they all had their claims at the right time. The defense lawyers should also ask the court to review the group at different stages of the lawsuit to make sure everyone is still in similar situations. The Equal Pay Act is part of the Fair Labor Standards Act and follows the same rules for class actions. If an employer violates the FLSA on purpose, it’s called a “willful” violation. But this doesn’t apply for filing an ADEA action. The statute of limitations for filing ADEA actions changed in 1991 to match the requirements of Title VII. There are specific rules for starting a class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Some courts have agreed with this, but others haven’t. Timeliness for filing a charge of discrimination depends on whether it’s in a deferral state or not. Donald J. Spero is a lawyer who specializes in labor and employment law. He now works as a mediator and arbitrator, helping people resolve legal disputes. He is certified by the Florida Supreme Court. This column is submitted on behalf of the Labor and Employment Law Section.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/time-limitations-and-court-supervision-in-class-actions-under-the-flsa-and-the-adea/