Sports Editor’s Bid for Wage Collective Action Shunned by Judge

A USA Today Sports Media Group LLC site editor allegedly misclassified as an independent contractor must collect more information before pursuing wage claims on behalf of a collective because federal law doesn’t allow conditional certification, a district judge said.

Editor Liz Mathews, who covered the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks for the Gannett Co. subsidiary’s “Seahawks Wire” site from January 2017 through August 2021, filed a proposed collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. But the FLSA doesn’t say anything about conditional certification, and a closer look is necessary before they can move forward as a group, the US District Court ...