Plaintiffs sought to bring claims on behalf of themselves and “ll persons separated from employment with in Illinois between December 11, 2003, and the conclusion of this action who were subject to Darden’s Vacation Policy. The anniversary payments are referred to as “vacation pay” because Darden treated the anniversary payments as vacation pay for purposes of the IWPCA, and when an employee stopped working for the company, Darden would include the pro rata amount of anniversary pay in the employee’s final paycheck. Here, the “vacation pay” at issue was actually “anniversary payments” paid to eligible employees when they reached the annual anniversary of their hiring date. Plaintiffs Demiko McCaster and Jennifer Clark, who worked at two different restaurants owned by Darden Restaurants, Inc., alleged that Darden failed to pay them the accrued vacation pay allegedly owed to them upon their separation from employment in violation of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (“IWPCA”). This decision exemplifies the critical balance plaintiffs must strike in defining their proposed classes while a “fail safe” class will not be permitted, a class definition that is too broad will not satisfy the requirements of Rule 23. The Court concluded that Plaintiffs’ proposed class definition constituted an impermissible “fail safe” class because an individual’s membership in the class turned on the merits of his or her claim, and that Plaintiffs’ alternative class definition did not satisfy the commonality requirement of Rule 23 under Dukes. The Seventh Circuit’s reliance on Dukes demonstrates that the Supreme Court’s holding extends beyond the discrimination context and applies with equal force in wage and hour class actions (at least within the Seventh Circuit). 338 (2011) and affirmed the district court’s denial of class certification of Plaintiffs’ claims for vacation pay under state law. 5, 2017), the Seventh Circuit relied on Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
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