Nicholas Fortuna, June 17, 2015. The Supreme Court will take another stab at defining the limits of class actions in the employment setting. On June 8, 2015 the Court granted review certification of a class of more than 3000 Iowa meat-processing employees on their wage and hour claims that resulted in a jury award of nearly $5.8 million in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo. The justices will consider the Eighth Circuit’s 2-1 decision that the district court did not abuse its discretion by certifying the workers’ collective and…

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By: Megan J. Muoio, March 9, 2015 The first quarter of 2015 has already seen a great deal of activity in the area of class action lawsuits brought by plaintiffs suing their employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Three recent cases demonstrate the difficulties plaintiffs have faced under the collective action certification standard of the FLSA, which requires plaintiffs who opt in to the collective action to demonstrate they are similarly situated. Although there is no statutory test in the FLSA for determining whether plaintiffs are…

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Diana Uhimov, September 3, 2014. Class-action lawsuits can be a powerful tool for employees and consumers against major corporations, as proven by the massive $7.25 billion Visa and MasterCard antitrust settlement of 2012. A consumer class action is a case where plaintiffs who purchased a product or service from a defendant claim that they suffered damages as a result of fraud, product defect, or other information failure.  The class of plaintiffs in the Visa/MasterCard suit consisted of retailers and individuals alleging the credit-card companies engaged in anticompetitive activity by…

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