Greenstein v. Meredith Corp.

948 F. Supp. 2d 1266, 2013 WL 1753265, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57861
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedApril 23, 2013
DocketCase No. 11-2399-RDR
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 948 F. Supp. 2d 1266 (Greenstein v. Meredith Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greenstein v. Meredith Corp., 948 F. Supp. 2d 1266, 2013 WL 1753265, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57861 (D. Kan. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JULIE A. ROBINSON, District Judge.

Plaintiff Melissa Greenstein has brought this action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. and the Kansas Wage Payment Act, K.S.A. 44-312 et seq. alleging unpaid straight time and overtime compensation. Plaintiff worked as a news producer for a Kansas City television station owned by defendant Meredith Corporation. This case is before the court upon a motion for conditional class certification under FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), filed on behalf of Greenstein and other persons who have filed notices to join in the lawsuit.

Section 216(b) provides in part:

An action to recover the liability prescribed [in § 216(b) ] may be maintained ... 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.

(emphasis added). In this case, the motion for conditional certification seeks “conditional certification of a class consisting of [a]ll [ejurrent and former Meredith employees employed in the position/title of ‘producer’ whose job duties involved the creation and coordination of local television programming, and/or promotions related to such programming, and who were classified by Meredith as exempt from the right to receive overtime.” Doc. No. 36, p. 1. The motion also requests: an order designating Greenstein as class representative; an order approving plaintiffs counsel to act as class counsel; the court’s approval of a proposed notice and method of distribution to putative class members; and a directive that defendant share certain employee information with plaintiffs counsel.

Defendant Meredith is a company that operates 12 television stations across the nation. Defendant does not object to conditional certification as to news producers who worked at defendant’s Kansas City television station, but opposes conditional certification of a class including all other producers at the Kansas City station and all producers at defendant’s other stations. Defendant also objects to plaintiff’s proposed notice, the proposed procedure for distributing the notice, and to plaintiffs request for some employee information.

I. Request for conditional certification

To succeed upon a motion for conditional certification, plaintiff must present substantial allegations that the putative class members were together the victims of a single decision, policy, or plan. Thiessen v. General Electric Capital Corp., 267 F.3d 1095, 1102 (10th Cir.2001) (interior quotation omitted). As emphasized above, the class certification requested here is conditional; at a later stage in the case the court must make a second determination involving a stricter standard of class certification. Id. at 1102-03. The standard of certification at the present stage is a lenient one that typically results in class certification. Brown v. Money Tree Mortgage, Inc., 222 F.R.D. 676, 679 (D.Kan.2004). The court does not weigh the evidence, resolve factual disputes, or rule on the merits of plaintiffs’ claims. Gieseke v. First Horizon Home Loan Corp., 408 F.Supp.2d 1164, 1166-67 (D.Kan.2006).

[1268]*1268A. The complaint’s allegations

The complaint alleges that plaintiff Greenstein was employed as a “producer” for defendant and paid on a salary basis. Doc. No. 1, ¶5. The complaint further alleges that defendant has had a policy of failing to compensate its “producers” straight time for all hours worked and overtime compensation for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Id., ¶ 21. The complaint asserts that plaintiff and the putative class (producers who worked for defendant, but were not paid overtime) are similarly situated in that they had the same job duties and compensation structure. Id., ¶¶ 25, 40 & 43. The complaint asserts that plaintiff and the putative class are entitled to be paid overtime compensation under FLSA. Id., ¶¶ 50-52. Plaintiff contends in the complaint that she and other producers should have been classified as non-exempt, but defendant treated them as exempt from receiving overtime under FLSA.

B. Affidavits

Five affidavits have been submitted from former employees of defendant in support of the motion for conditional certification. Three affidavits are from former news producers for defendant and they describe similar job responsibilities. Doc. No. 37, affidavits of Melissa Greenstein, Morgan C. Smith and Daniel J. English, Exhibits E, F & H. These affidavits state that the affiants commonly worked more than 40 hours a week, but were not paid overtime. The affidavits also indicate that the affiants spoke with other news producers who worked for defendant and that these employees had similar duties and were compensated in the same manner. These affidavits do not state where the affiants worked.

An affidavit from Kellee B. Divine, a former promotions producer at one of defendant’s Kansas City stations, sets forth her job responsibilities which are in some ways different, but which bear similarity to the duties of a news producer. Doc. No. 37, Exhibit G. She states in the affidavit that she has spoken to other promotions producers and that those employees had similar duties and were compensated in the same manner. According to her affidavit, she regularly worked more than 40 hours a week in the job of promotions producer. This is consistent with the affidavit of Daniel English who stated that he also worked as a promotions producer.

The substance of these affidavits is similar to the affidavit of John L. Gilmore, Jr. who worked as a sports producer for an Atlanta station operated by defendant. Doc. No. 37, Exhibit I.

C. Deposition testimony

Plaintiff has submitted the deposition testimony of Ms. Lora Koch, a human resources consultant in defendant’s corporate headquarters. Ms. Koch testified that defendant’s corporate office signed off on decisions regarding whether employees had exempt status under the FLSA.1

D. Job descriptions

Finally, plaintiff has included job descriptions for various producer positions at a number of stations owned by defendant. Doc. No. 37-10. These positions include: writer/producer; promotion producer; multimedia producer; news producer; [1269]*1269creative services producer; topical promotion producer, and sports producer. The jobs obviously are not the same, but each job involves creating and editing programming or commercials for broadcast on television or other media, as well as coordinating with other persons.

E. Arguments for a narrower class certification

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Bluebook (online)
948 F. Supp. 2d 1266, 2013 WL 1753265, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57861, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greenstein-v-meredith-corp-ksd-2013.