By Douglas Weiner and Meg Thering
In one of the many “wrinkles” in Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) litigation, settlements of wage and hour disputes between an employer and its employees are only enforceable if supervised by the U.S. Department of Labor or approved by a court. Courts will approve settlements if they are “fair”; however, as demonstrated in a recent decision arising out of New Jersey - Brumley v. Camin Cargo Control - courts may need to be reminded that employers also have rights and legitimate interests. The Brumley Court took what was a bargained-for exchange between both parties and turned it into what could only be considered a one-sided deal, good only for the plaintiffs.
After litigating and negotiating alleged overtime violations with 112 opt-in plaintiffs over a four year period, Camin Cargo Control, Inc. ultimately offered to pay $3.9 million in exchange for the release of all wage claims and a confidentiality provision. Plaintiffs then filed an unopposed motion to approve these terms of settlement. Unfortunately for Camin Cargo Control, Inc., the Court granted Plaintiffs their full benefit of the bargain – including $1.3 million in costs and attorneys’ fees – but in the name of “fairness” denied the portion of the motion containing the confidentiality provision and release of claims.
In Brumley,the Honorable Jose Linares, citing Brooklyn Sav. Bank v. O’Neil, a U.S. Supreme Court case from 1945 and Dees v. Hyradry, Inc., a 2010 casefrom the Middle District of Florida, refused to approve the parties’ agreement as submitted because he found that the confidentiality provisions ran afoul of “the ‘public – private’ rights granted by the FLSA and thwart[ed] Congress’s intent to ensure widespread compliance with the statute.” Additionally, citing Dees, he stated: “[i]n practice, leaving an FLSA settlement to wholly private resolution conduces inevitably to mischief.” He also deemed the release unfair because he interpreted it as a release of both prior and prospective claims.
In light of this opinion, employers should double check the language of release provisions in FLSA settlement agreements to make sure that they unambiguously release all claims prior to the date of the agreement (and no claims after the date of the agreement).
Employers should also keep in mind that courts are becoming increasingly hostile to confidentiality provisions in FLSA settlements. Thus, employers may no longer assume that their confidentiality provisions will be approved.
We will keep an eye on this decision and report if it is appealed or distinguished by courts in other jurisdictions.