Supreme Court Upholds Employer’s Strategy of Picking Off Lead Plaintiff in FLSA Collective Action
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In another highly anticipated decision of this term, the United States Supreme Court today upheld the dismissal of a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act because the lead plaintiff had been offered and declined an offer of full relief; thus leaving the trial court without subject matter jurisdiction to hear the matter. In a 5-4 decision, Justice Thomas reversed the Third Circuit’s position that despite the individual claim being moot, the remaining collective action was still viable. In so doing, the Court declined to address the split amongst the courts of appeal on this issue and instead ruled that the plaintiff had waived the issue of mootness in her briefing and by failing to cross petition for certiorari from the Third Circuit’s decision.
By way of background, Laura Symczyk, a Registered Nurse, brought a putative collective action on behalf of herself and all similarly situated individuals, against her employer. Symczyk alleged that the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) by improperly deducting 30 minutes of time worked per shift for meal breaks even when the employees performed compensable work during that time. Upon serving its answer to the complaint, the employer served Symczyk with a Rule 68 offer of judgment in the amount of $7,500 together with all reasonable attorney’s fees, costs and expenses as the Court may determine. This offer fully satisfied Symczyk’s individual claim and she had 10 days in which to accept it or it would be withdrawn. When she failed to respond to the offer within the stated time, the employer filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction arguing that by rejecting its offer of full relief, Symczyk no longer had a personal interest in the outcome of the lawsuit and thus, it was moot. The trial court granted the employer’s motion to dismiss holding that the offer of judgment mooted the collective action, which had no members other than Symczyk.
Read original articleTags: collective action, subject matter jurisdiction, Supreme Court, United States Supreme Court
