On March 26, 2010, Law360 reported on U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland Judge Deborah Chasanow’s denial of the defendant’s motion to dismiss in Randolph v. ADT Sec. Servs., Inc., which we discussed here.  The opinion answers a question of first impression in the Fourth Circuit, holding that the Fair Labor Standard Act’s anti-retaliation provision protects disclosures to state labor agencies made in good faith. 

In the article, Mr. Woodfield points out that “under FLSA if you have a good faith belief in your claim, you are protected.”  When reporting violations to a state agency, “you don’t have to be correct, but you have to have a reasonable belief.”  Mr. Woodfield, the plaintiffs’ attorney, is a Principal at The Employment Law Group® law firm.  For more information about Mr. Woodfield and the firm’s Unpaid Overtime Practice, click here.

On March 24, 2010, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland Judge Deborah Chasanow denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss in Randolph v. ADT Sec. Servs., Inc..  This case presented an important question of first impression for the Fourth Circuit, namely whether employees, who were compensated with commissions based on sales, could complain to a state wage and hour board and be protected under the anti-retaliation provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3) even if they were not entitled to overtime if they held a reasonable, good faith belief that they had been misclassified as commissions based employees and that they had been inadequately compensated for overtime work performed for the defendant. 

Plaintiffs Sharon Randolph and Tami Thompson filed a complaint with the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR), claiming that ADT failed to pay them overtime.  Randolph and Thompson were paid in commission for sales, however they thought they should have been compensated on an hourly basis and that they were entitled to overtime.  After being notified of the complaint, ADT terminated Randolph and Thompson for violating company policy by disclosing confidential information to the DLLR.  After their termination, the plaintiffs filed the present suit asserting that ADT violated the FLSA’s prohibition against retaliation and that their termination was wrongful under the Maryland public policy exception to at-will employment, known as an Adler tort claim. 

Relying in part on the only U.S. court of appeals case to address the application of § 215(a)(3) to state law, Sapperstein v. Hager, 188 F.3d 852 (7th Cir. 1999), Judge Chasanow sided with the plaintiffs and will allow the case to go to trial.  A copy of the Memorandum Opinion and Order is available here.

For more information about The Employment Law Group® law firm and its Employment Law Practice, click here.

On March 3, 2010, Judge Harold Baer, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted class action status to a suit brought against a construction company for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The suit, filed by current and former employees of Raines & Welsh & Sons, Inc., claims the company did not pay its employees for all hours worked and failed to pay them one and a half times their regular rate for overtime.  The plaintiffs also allege that the company failed to pay prevailing wages to employees working on government contracts, as required by state and federal law.  The action applies to individuals who worked for the company as far back as July 8, 2006, and covers at least 60 employees.  The case is Ferrer et al. v. Raines & Welch & Sons Inc., et al., and a copy of the certifying order is available here.

For more information on The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Non-Payment of Wages Practice, click here.