Braun, M. and Hummel, D. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Sam's Club

Summary

This is a dissenting opinion by Justice Saylor of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in consolidated class-action wage-and-hour appeals involving Walmart Stores, Inc. The dissent argues that the trial and intermediate appellate courts applied an impermissibly lax approach to proof of liability and damages across a large employee class, particularly in extrapolating missed or mistimed breaks from limited data.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the relaxed burden of proof applied in wage-and-hour class actions was permissibly used to establish liability and damages for a class of approximately 187,000 employees.
2. Whether the class-action procedure was used to make substantive alterations to governing wage-and-hour law without adequate evidentiary support or appropriate consideration of due process constraints.

Disposition

other