Jasmine Brown v. Select One, Inc. and Daniel Georgievski

Summary

The court denies Defendants’ motion to reconsider an earlier order granting conditional certification of an FLSA collective action. Applying the Seventh Circuit’s intervening decision in Richards v. Eli Lilly & Co., the court concludes that reconsideration would be futile because notice, discovery, and the opt-in period had already occurred. Defendants remain free to argue, based on the developed record, that the opt-in plaintiffs are not similarly situated.

Holdings

1. Although Richards rejected the Lusardi approach applied in the prior order, reconsideration was unwarranted because reopening the completed notice and opt-in process would not remedy the asserted concerns and would create a futile, inefficient exercise.
2. The court could not decertify the collective because conditional certification does not create a legal class or formally join parties; its sole consequence is the issuance of court-approved notice, and Brown had not requested official certification of the collective.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Seventh Circuit's intervening decision in Richards v. Eli Lilly & Co., which rejected the Lusardi approach to FLSA notice, required reconsideration of the court's earlier conditional-certification order.
2. Whether the court could or should decertify the FLSA collective and require Brown to proceed under the Richards framework after notice, opt-in, and discovery had already occurred.

Disposition

other