Frank v. Capital Cities Communications, Inc.

88 F.R.D. 674, 25 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1186, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10288, 25 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 31,500
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 6, 1981
DocketNo. 80 Civ. 2188-CSH
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 88 F.R.D. 674 (Frank v. Capital Cities Communications, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frank v. Capital Cities Communications, Inc., 88 F.R.D. 674, 25 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1186, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10288, 25 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 31,500 (S.D.N.Y. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

HAIGHT, District Judge:

This is an action commenced pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act [675]*675(“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et seq. Plaintiff Bernard Frank is an employee of Fair-child News Service, a subdivision of defendant Fairchild publications (“FP”).1 Plaintiffs John Pareti and Martin Kessler are employees of the Daily News Record, another subdivision of FP. FP is a division of defendant Capital Cities Media, Inc. (“Media”), which is in turn a wholly-owned subsidiary of defendant Capital Cities Communications, Inc. (“Communications”). Plaintiffs sue on behalf of themselves “and other employees similarly situated.” The complaint charges all defendants with violations of the ADEA, in that they discriminate against older employees in respect of the compensation, terms, conditions and privileges of their employment.

Plaintiffs move for Court authorization to send a notice to other potential plaintiffs to inform them of their opportunity to “opt-in’’ to the present suit. The basis for giving such a notice derives from the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. § 626(b), which provides that the statute will be enforced in accordance, inter alia, with the powers, remedies and procedures provided in 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). Section 216(b), which forms a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), renders an employer who violates the statute liable to its employees. Section 216(b) provides in pertinent part:

“Action to recover such liability may be maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more employees for and in behalf of himself or themselves and other employees similarly situated. No employee shall be a party plaintiff to any such action unless he gives his consent in writing to become such a party and such consent is filed in the court in which such action is brought.”

The Second Circuit, construing § 216(b) in the context of an FLSA suit for nonpayment of statutorily required minimum wages and overtime compensation, declared the district courts’ authority to authorize the giving of notice “in an appropriate case,” a holding which “comports with the broad remedial purpose of the Act, which should be given a liberal construction, as well as with the interest of the courts in avoiding multiplicity of suits.” Braunstein v. Eastern Photographic Laboratories, 600 F.2d 335, 336 (2d Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 944, 99 S.Ct. 2162, 60 L.Ed.2d 1046 (1979).

Plaintiffs contend that notices should be sent to all present employees of the three defendants between the ages of forty and seventy, and to all former employees of the three defendants since 1960 who were between the ages of forty and seventy at the time of termination of their employment. Plaintiffs further demand that defendants be directed to furnish them with the names and addresses of such individuals.

Additionally, plaintiffs ask that defendants be directed to publish the notice in the “CAP CITIES INK,” a company newspaper distributed to defendants’ employees, and to permit the posting of the notice on company bulletin boards.

Defendants resist the sending of any notice. They point out, correctly, that Braunstein, supra, involved an FLSA claim, whereas the instant case arises out of the ADEA; and argue “that a complaint brought under the ADEA is rarely, if ever, an appropriate case for the sending of a notice” under § 216(b). Brief at p. 7. Alternatively, defendants contend that a notice is premature, or rendered unnecessary by prior newspaper publicity, or, in any event, should not receive as wide dissemination as plaintiffs request, and should not appear in the company newspaper or on the bulletin boards.

The suggestion in defendants’ brief that notices to potential plaintiffs are never “appropriate” in ADEA eases is foreclosed by the action of Congress, as construed by the Second Circuit’s holding in Braunstein, supra. Congress saw fit to make the FLSA § 216(b) “opt-in” provisions applicable to [676]*676the ADEA. Both statutes are remedial; the argument that claims of age discrimination are so different in nature from claims for statutory minimum wages that “opt-in” provisions should not apply must be addressed to the Congress, and not to the courts. At least one court, following Braunstein, has authorized the giving of notice to potential plaintiffs in an ADEA case. Geller v. Markham, 481 F.Supp. 835 (D.Conn.1979). At oral argument, counsel for defendants properly conceded this Court’s discretionary power to authorize a notice; the questions that arise are whether, and in what manner, that discretion should be exercised.

I entertain no doubt that some sort of notice is appropriate at this time. While § 216(b) requires that the “other employees” be “similarly situated” to plaintiffs, it does not follow that claims based upon age discrimination are so individual in nature that they cannot lend themselves to class treatment. Cf. Carter v. Newsday, Inc., 13 EPD 6143 (E.D.N.Y. 1976) (suit alleging sex discrimination against women “in recruiting, hiring, training, compensation, use of job titles, job assignments, promotions, fringe benefits, travel assignments, job classifications and story assignments” brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. properly certifiable as class action under Rule 23, F.R.Civ.P.). There is no basis for suggesting that the giving of notice at the present time would be premature. Defendants’ argument on that point is that “the plaintiffs’ claims may be shown in the crucible of discovery to be weak, if not merit-less,” in which event no notice should be sent. Brief at p. 21. The answer is that the experiences of other employees may well be probative of the existence vel non of a discriminatory policy, thereby affecting the merits of the plaintiffs’ own claims; and the notice machinery contemplated by the ADEA, by reaching out to potential plaintiffs, may further the statute’s remedial purpose.

Defendants have faintly suggested that an article appearing in the April 13, 1979 Wall Street Journal, describing an action commenced by plaintiffs Pareti and Frank against defendants for alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq., gives adequate notice of the present action, so that no further notice is required. The argument is frivolous. The ERISA action, presently pending before Judge Stewart of this Court (79 Civ. 1858-CES) bears no meaningful relation to the case at bar.

Defendant seek to characterize the sending of a notice to potential plaintiffs, identic fying the present plaintiffs’ counsel as attorneys to be consulted about “opting in,” as unethical solicitation of clients. Defendants rely upon Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Association, 436 U.S. 447

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88 F.R.D. 674, 25 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1186, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10288, 25 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 31,500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frank-v-capital-cities-communications-inc-nysd-1981.