Case: Wage & Hour/Overtime (5th Cir.)

The Fifth Circuit ruled that a unionized plant worker in Texas was properly denied a trial on a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action against Ashland Elastomers LLC because his union validly settled a grievance over the alleged overtime violations. His employer agreed to pay the plant workers double back-wages for time spent donning and doffing protective gear, completing “early shift relief” tasks, and performing other off-the-clock activities, after negotiating the grievance directly with Local 228 of the Steelworkers union, the court said. His post-settlement claims against Ashland and its successor seeking wages for pre-shift work also fail because this ...