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</style><title>Collective Action Against Wage Theft - NYTimes.com</title></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareWrapperClass" contenteditable="false"><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareUserContentTopClass" style="line-height: 14px !important; color: black !important; text-align: left !important; " applecontenteditable="true"><br></span><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareSharedContentClass" style="position: relative !important; " applecontenteditable="true"><base href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/opinion/collective-action-against-wage-theft.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121205"><div><div class="original-url"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/opinion/collective-action-against-wage-theft.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121205">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/opinion/collective-action-against-wage-theft.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121205</a><br><br></div><div id="article" onscroll="articleScrolled();" class="auto-hyphenated" style="-webkit-locale: en; ">
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<div class="page" style="font-family: Palatino, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4; "><h1 class="title">Collective Action Against Wage Theft</h1><p itemprop="articleBody">
The Supreme Court heard argument Monday in a <a title="Scotusblog page about Genesis HealthCare Corp. v. Symzyck" href="http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/genesis-healthcare-corp-v-symczyk/">case</a> about a nursing home in Philadelphia that docked each worker a half-hour of pay daily for meal breaks, whether the worker took breaks or was required to work through them. One worker, Laura Symczyk, sued Genesis HealthCare Corporation, the home’s operator, for violations of wage and hour rules under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. The act specifically gives a worker the right to bring a “collective action” on behalf of other similarly situated workers who have the same grievance — precisely the purpose of Ms. Symczyk’s suit. </p>
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But before she could notify other workers about her suit so that they could opt in to be plaintiffs, the corporation offered her $7,500 to cover all of her lost wages, plus attorney’s fees and other costs to settle the case. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
When she did not respond to the offer, the company got a federal district judge in Philadelphia to throw out the suit on grounds that there was no longer a controversy for the court to resolve because she had been offered a full settlement for her individual claims. But the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in a unanimous three-judge <a title="Symczyk v. Genesis HealthCare Corp., decided on August 31, 2011" href="http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/Symczyk_v_Genesis_HealthCare_Corp_656_F3d_189_3d_Cir_2011_Court_O">ruling</a>, properly overturned the trial court ruling. It said that because Congress allowed collective actions an employer cannot “frustrate” this right by offering one person a settlement in order to dismiss the entire suit. </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
Besides, as Justice Elena Kagan noted at the <a title="Transcript, December 3, 2012" href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/11-1059.pdf">oral argument</a>, “Here, the plaintiff’s individual claims have not been fully satisfied. She walked away with nothing. She walked away with no judgment, and she walked away with no $7,500. And the question is: How can it possibly be that her individual claim was moot?” </p><p itemprop="articleBody">
The corporation’s attempt to force Ms. Symczyk to take its offer is nothing more than a pre-emptive attempt to shut down the far more costly complaint against its overall practices. The justices should uphold the appeals court ruling. Without group claims in cases like this where individual stakes are too small to justify individual lawsuits, there would be no check on employers. </p><nyt_correction_bottom> <p>
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