Is CAFA Increasing the Scope and Number of Wage and Hour Class Actions?

We had someone forward a press release informing us that a group of assistant managers for a 116 store fastener company have filed an overtime claim under California law and the FLSA. In Calhoun et al v. Fastenal Company, Civ. No. 07- CV- 5326, Northern District of California, two assistant managers who worked for Fastenal in California and Pennsylvania are bringing claims in a state law class action as well as an FLSA collective action. The case itself isn't that remarkable, but it does serve as a potential example of one unintended side effect of the passage of the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

As long as plaintiffs expect the defendant to force the case into federal court under CAFA, the employees might as well add a nationwide FLSA collective action to the pleadings. As a result, CAFA may be triggering a lot more national FLSA collective actions than would otherwise have been filed. That may or may not be what happened with Calhoun, but after some of what we've seen in our cases and those of some close colleagues, the thought crossed our minds when we saw the press release.

Comments

Nothing is more exciting than watching unintended consequences unfold.