Wheat v. Abbott Laboratories

Summary

The court addresses a motion for court-facilitated notice in consolidated Fair Labor Standards Act overtime actions brought by Myra Wheat and Lucas Walters against Abbott Laboratories. It denies notice for proposed lunch-break collectives because the plaintiffs did not show a strong likelihood that the proposed members were similarly situated, but grants notice for Ohio 12-hour-shift employees alleging unpaid pre-shift work resulting from time-rounding practices. The court requires the parties to submit a revised joint notice with a lookback period measured from June 18, 2022.

Holdings

1. The named plaintiffs did not show a strong likelihood that they were similarly situated to either the proposed Ohio or out-of-state lunch-break collectives.
2. Myra Wheat demonstrated a strong likelihood that she was similarly situated to Ohio 12-hour-shift production and manufacturing employees who performed required pre-shift PPE and sanitation work and were subject to Abbott's time-rounding policy.
3. The proposed notice was not approved in its current form. The parties were required to submit a joint revised notice within 14 days, and the notice lookback period was to run from June 18, 2022, three years before Wheat filed the motion for court-facilitated notice.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the named plaintiffs demonstrated a strong likelihood that proposed lunch-break collective members were similarly situated under the FLSA.
2. Whether Myra Wheat demonstrated a strong likelihood that Ohio 12-hour-shift production employees subject to Abbott's time-rounding policy were similarly situated to her.
3. Whether the proposed notice to potential opt-in plaintiffs was substantively and procedurally appropriate, including its scope, description of conditional opt-ins, attorney-fee language, and lookback period.

Disposition

other