Bartender’s Class Settlement of FLSA Claims Back On After Appeal

A deal settling bartenders’ state and federal wage claims against a Pennsylvania restaurant is back on, even though some prospective members of the state-law class hadn’t affirmatively joined the federal collective, following a federal appeals court ruling Thursday.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s opt-in provision “establishes only the mechanism by which FLSA claims may be litigated, not the conditions under which they may be waived,” the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said. It’s the first appeals court to “squarely address” whether the FLSA opt-in requirement bars releasing unasserted federal claims through a class settlement, Judge ...