18th Annual Workplace Class Action Report - 2022 Edition

118 Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report: 2022 Edition the members of the proposed collective action. The Court determined that Plaintiff offered evidence that all dancers were subject to Defendant’s common practice of misclassification as independent contractors. For these reasons, the Court granted Plaintiff’s motion for conditional certification of a collective action. Lee, et al. v. Solar Energy World, LLC, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46000 (D. Md. March 10, 2021). Plaintiffs, a group of solar panel electricians and installers, filed a collective action alleging that Defendant failed to pay overtime compensation in violation of the FLSA. Plaintiffs filed a motion for conditional certification of a collective action, which the Court granted. Plaintiffs sought conditional certification of a collective action consisting of all individuals who worked as “an electrician or installer at Solar Energy World’s Maryland facility and worked more than 40 hours in a workweek without being paid overtime." Id. at *13. Plaintiffs asserted that they were similarly- situated to the members of the proposed collective action because they were subject to the same company-wide policy or practice of paying installers per panel installed, rather than based on time spent on the job, traveling, and working at headquarters. Id . at *11. In support of their motion, Plaintiffs offered their own declarations which averred that: (i) their job duties were substantially similar, if not the same; (ii) Plaintiffs were paid a combination of hourly and Panel Pay; (iii) Plaintiffs were not credited hours for return trips from their respective job sites despite being required by the Defendant to return the company’s vehicles to headquarters; (iv) were not paid overtime compensation for hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week; and (v) Plaintiffs had no control over where their assignments were located. Id . at *11-12. Defendant argued that Plaintiffs’ request for conditional certification of a nationwide collective action including all electricians and installers was overbroad because Plaintiffs failed to show that electricians or installers others than those who worked out of the Maryland facility were similarly-situated to them. The Court determined that through their common allegations supported by affidavits, paystubs, personal time logs, screen shots of text messages, and spreadsheets showing hours worked, Plaintiffs had made the requisite showing that they and other employees at the Maryland facility were similarly-situated and subjected to the same alleged policy. Id . at *14. For these reasons, the Court granted Plaintiffs’ motion for conditional certification of a collective action. Mazariegos, et al. v. Pan 4 America , 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 208378 (D. Md. Oct. 28, 2021). Plaintiffs, of group of bakery employees, filed a collective action alleging that Defendants failed to pay overtime compensation in violation of the FLSA. Plaintiffs filed a motion for conditional certification of a collective action, which the Court granted. Plaintiffs asserted that they regularly were required worked over 40 hours per week and Defendants did not pay overtime compensation. In support of their motion, Plaintiffs offered their own declarations in which they stated that from 2015 to April 2019, Defendants paid employees every two weeks with a check and with cash. The check was for 80 hours of work and the cash was for any overtime hours they worked, but the cash payment never amounted to one-and-one-half times the regular pay. Id . at *13. The declarations also averred that after May 2019 Defendants paid Plaintiffs every two weeks with two checks, one with the 80 hours of regular pay, and one for overtime hours, but the payment never amounted to one-and-one-half times the employee’s regular pay. Plaintiff Mazariegos’ declaration also contended that he personally knew how each employee was paid because he was responsible for handing out employee checks. The Court held that Plaintiffs sufficiently established that all employees were similarly-situated in that they were each subject to Defendants’ company-wide policy of not paying the correct overtime rate. Defendants argued that Plaintiffs were not similarly-situated because they had supervisory duties and other potential collective action members did not. However, the Court ruled that Plaintiffs’ declarations asserted that all employees performed generally the same duties of bakery work, and all were subject to the same pay policies. For these reasons, the Court rejected Defendants’ argument, and granted Plaintiffs’ motion for conditional certification of a collective action. Mendoza, et al. v. Baird Drywall & Acoustic, Inc. , 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111906 (W.D. Va. June 15, 2021). Plaintiffs, a group of laborers, filed a collective action alleging that Defendant, a subcontractor, failed to pay overtime compensation and minimum wages in violation of the FLSA. Plaintiffs filed a motion for conditional certification of a collective action, which the Court granted. Defendant paid laborers through middlemen called labor brokers, or "sub-subcontractors." Id . at *4. Through the labor brokers, Defendant paid a flat hourly rate for all hours worked, without the mandatory overtime premium. In support of their motion, Plaintiffs offered declarations that stated that all Plaintiffs and opt-in Plaintiffs were similarly-situated because they were all paid pursuant to Defendant’s common pay policy that deprived them of overtime wages. Id . at *9-10. Further, the declarations averred that all Plaintiffs and potential opt-in Plaintiffs: (i) shared the same job duties; (ii) were all