Huang v. Gateway Hotel Holdings

248 F.R.D. 225, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 773, 2008 WL 68956
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedJanuary 4, 2008
DocketNo. 4:07CV00702 ERW
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 248 F.R.D. 225 (Huang v. Gateway Hotel Holdings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Huang v. Gateway Hotel Holdings, 248 F.R.D. 225, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 773, 2008 WL 68956 (E.D. Mo. 2008).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND OPINION

E. RICHARD WEBBER, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Conditional Certification of Class [doc. #22] and Defendant’s Motion to Strike or Change Certain Portions of Plaintiffs’ Proposed Notice [doe. #28].

I. BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff Huang was a non-union hourly employee of Gateway Hotel Holdings (“Defendant”) at the Millennium Hotel, St. Louis, where he worked for approximately twenty-five (25) years as a server. In January, 2006, Defendant announced a policy requiring nonunion employees to take a one-half hour unpaid meal break during any work shift of six hours or longer. Subsequently, Defendant deducted one-half hour of pay from each nonunion hourly employee’s shifts of six hours or more.

Michael Huang, Kelly Schaper, Innocente Racanelli, and Melissa Dielschneider (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) allege that Defendant did not provide Plaintiffs or other non-union hourly employees with a scheduled meal break, nor did Defendant relieve Plaintiffs of any work duties upon instituting this policy. Plaintiff Huang complained to his supervisor, to the Human Resources Director, and to the General Manager, arguing that Defendant’s deduction of pay for hours actually worked was illegal. Plaintiff Huang alleges that he was fired within a month of his last complaint in retaliation for his complaints.

Plaintiffs filed the present action on April 10, 2007. Plaintiffs allege that Defendant violated their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”) by deducting pay for hours actually worked. Plaintiff Huang also alleges that Defendant discharged him unlawfully in retaliation for the complaints he lodged against these pay deductions, and that this retaliatory discharge violated the FLSA and Missouri’s common law. Plaintiffs have now moved for the conditional certification of this suit as a collective action, and Defendant opposes this motion and also objects to the Notice Plaintiffs’ have proposed sending to potential opt-in plaintiffs.

11. LEGAL STANDARD

A collective action under the FLSA differs from class actions brought under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. Davis v. NovaStar Mortgage, Inc., 408 F.Supp.2d 811, 814-15 (W.D.Mo.2005). The principle difference is that an individual must “opt-in” to an action brought under the FLSA in order to be bound by the collective action, whereas an action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure requires an individual to “opt-out” in order to avoid being bound by the judgment. Id.

[227]*227An action to recover damages under the FLSA may be brought “by any one or more employees for and on behalf of himself or themselves and other employees similarly situated.” 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). The FLSA does not define “similarly situated” and the Eighth Circuit has not considered what standard should be applied in determining whether potential opt-in plaintiffs are “similarly situated.” See, e.g., Schleipfer v. Mitek Corp., 2007 WL 2485007 (E.D.Mo. August 29, 2007); Parker v. Rowland Express, Inc., 492 F. Supp 2d 1159 (D.Minn.2007). However, courts who have considered this issue have utilized a two-step process for determining whether class certification is appropriate. Id.

In this two-step process, a plaintiff will move for conditional certification at an early stage in the litigation. See Davis, 408 F.Supp.2d at 815. A plaintiffs burden when seeking conditional certification is not onerous and the merits of a plaintiffs claims are not considered. Hoffmann v. Sbarro, Inc., 982 F.Supp. 249, 262 (S.D.N.Y.1997); Smith v. Heartland Automotive Services, Inc., 404 F.Supp.2d 1144, 1149 (D.Minn.2005). The Plaintiffs “need not show that members of the conditionally certified class are actually similarly situated.”1 Schleipfer, 2007 WL 2485007, at *3 (quoting Fast v. Applebee’s Intern., Inc., 243 F.R.D. 360, 363 (W.D.Mo.2007)). Once a class is conditionally certified, potential class members are given notice of the certification and the opportunity to “opt-in” to the pending action. Parker, 492 F.Supp.2d at 1159.

In the second step of the class certification process, a defendant may move to have the class decertified. This is generally done after the close of discovery, or at least where “discovery is largely complete and the matter is ready for trial.” Hipp v. Liberty Nat. Life Ins. Co., 252 F.3d 1208, 1218 (11th Cir.2001). The motion for decertification is delayed until the Court is “able .to make a factual determination as to whether the members of the conditionally certified class are similarly situated.” Schleipfer, 2007 WL 2485007, at *3; Davis, 408 F.Supp.2d at 815. The requirement that class members be similarly situated at the second step of the certification process has been interpreted to mean that “class members need not be identically situated.” Fast, 243 F.R.D. at 363.

III. DISCUSSION

Defendant opposes Plaintiffs’ motion for conditional certification, arguing that Plaintiffs have failed to present any evidence that the proposed class members are “similarly situated.” Defendant has supported its opposition with affidavits from individual supervisors. Defendant asserts that these affidavits demonstrate that it was the responsibility of each individual supervisor to develop and implement a practice to ensure employees take meal breaks or ensure that are paid when they don’t take a meal break. Defendant concludes that since each supervisor implemented different procedures for implementing the hotel’s meal-break policy, the employees at the hotel are not the victims of a single decision, policy or plan that denied them pay for missed meal breaks.

Typically, district courts will make the determination of whether to conditionally certify a class based solely on the affidavits presented by the plaintiffs. Rappaport v. Embarq Mgmt. Co., 2007 WL 4482581, at *4 (M.D.Fla. December 18, 2007). The affidavits Defendant submitted are persuasive, however, when discovery is not “substantially complete” a court should analyze a motion for conditional certification “under the more lenient ‘notice stage’ criteria.” Fast, 243 F.R.D. at 363. “Conditional class certification at the notice stage requires ‘noting more than substantial allegations’ ” that the putative class members are similarly situated. Schleipfer, 2007 WL 2485007, at *3 (quoting Davis, 408 F.Supp.2d at 815).

Plaintiffs have made substantial allegations that the putative class members are similarly situated. Plaintiffs allege that Defendant engaged in a pattern or practice of failing to pay employees for all hours worked. Plaintiffs have shown that this alleged activity was [228]*228pervasive, and extended to at least waiters, housekeepers, cooks, bartenders, hosts and kitchen staff.

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248 F.R.D. 225, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 773, 2008 WL 68956, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huang-v-gateway-hotel-holdings-moed-2008.