On June 21, 2010, a federal district court judge in Minnesota conditionally certified a class pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA allows employees to bring collective actions if they are not being paid the minimum wage. The drivers allege that they have not been adequately reimbursed for delivery expenses and therefore have been paid less than the federal minimum wage. Domino’s maintained that there were variations in reimbursement rates by store and to determine whether the expenses were insufficient would require individual inquiries, which should defeat the certification. The case is important because the district court judge correctly recognized that in an FLSA action, at conditional certification, plaintiffs need only establish a colorable basis for their claim that the putative class members were the victims of a single decision, policy or plan, and plaintiffs had made a showing that Domino’s stores reimbursed according to a common policy.
Click here to read the court’s decision to certify this class action.
