United States Ninth Circuit

Dismissal of plaintiffs' class action suit for unpaid wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Nevada state law is: 1) reversed in part as to the state law claims, where a FLSA collective action and a state law class action are not inherently incompatible as a matter of law even though plaintiffs must opt into a collective action under the FLSA but must opt out of a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23; 2) reversed in part, where plaintiffs stated an unpaid wages claim under the FLSA and parallel state law for undergoing a security clearance meant to prevent employee theft at the end of each shift, because plaintiffs sufficiently alleged that this activity was "integral and indispensable" to their principal activities; but 3) affirmed in part as to the dismissal of a claim under the FLSA for shortened lunch periods remanded for the district court to consider the argument that the workers stated a state law claim regarding lunch periods because Nevada defines "work" differently than federal law.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/12/2013
• Published 04/12/2013

Judges

• THOMAS

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel