Current and former lawn and landscape workers sued Epic Landscape Productions and related defendants in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Missouri Minimum Wage Law (MMWL), and state law claims related to overtime compensation. The Court considered defendants’ motion to decertify the FLSA collective action and plaintiffs’ motion for class certification of state law claims.
Factual Overview
The plaintiffs worked as lawn and landscape workers for defendants, which provide lawn care and landscaping services in Kansas and Missouri. Defendants employed both H-2B visa workers from Mexico and local U.S. citizen workers. Until July 2021, defendants uniformly classified all workers as exempt from overtime requirements under the Motor Carrier Act (MCA) exemption. Plaintiffs alleged they routinely worked over 40 hours per week without overtime compensation. The Court previously conditionally certified an FLSA collective action consisting of approximately 250 workers. Plaintiffs also sought certification of three separate classes to pursue state law claims: Missouri workers pursuing MMWL claims, H-2B workers pursuing breach of contract claims, and citizen workers pursuing third-party beneficiary or unjust enrichment claims.
Legal Analysis
FLSA Collective Decertification: The Court analyzed whether the collective members were similarly situated by examining their employment settings, available defenses, and fairness considerations. Despite defendants’ arguments about varying job duties, the Court found the workers shared substantially similar primary job duties and were uniformly classified as exempt, making collective treatment appropriate.
Rule 23 Class Certification: The Court evaluated the requirements of numerosity, commonality, typicality, adequacy, predominance and superiority for each proposed class. For the MMWL class, the Court found common questions about the MCA exemption predominated. For the H-2B class, the Court determined that whether the visa applications created enforceable contracts was a common issue suitable for class treatment. For the citizen worker class, the Court concluded that their claims depended on the same common questions as the H-2B class claims.
The Court denied defendants’ motion to decertify the FLSA collective action and granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification of all three proposed classes, appointing class representatives and class counsel.
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