Employer’s Perseverance Pays Off As District Court Decertifies Disinterested Collective

An Illinois federal court this week issued a thorough decision decertifying a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action, which more than 1,600 employees from across the country had opted into. Among other points made in this opinion, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois noted that well less than half of the opt-in employees subpoenaed to be deposed actually showed up for their depositions, significantly undercutting the plaintiffs’ ability to present representative evidence necessary for the case to proceed to trial on a collective basis.