Silva v. Consolidated Scaffolding, Inc.

Background

Wilber David Silva brought this action on behalf of a proposed collective under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Silva filed a letter stating that he intended to move for conditional certification of the collective. Conditional certification is the preliminary step for notifying potentially eligible workers that they may join the case.

Court’s analysis

The court stated that the first-step standard for conditional certification is lenient. At that stage, plaintiffs need only make a modest factual showing that they and potential participants were affected by a common policy or plan that violated the law. The court also noted that a more demanding standard applies at the later final-certification stage.

Order

The court ordered the defendants to respond to Silva’s letter, as required by the court’s Individual Rules, by August 12, 2024. The parties were also directed to meet and confer before the initial pretrial conference about possibly agreeing to conditional certification and the form of notice. The order preserved the defendants’ rights to object to final certification under the more rigorous later-stage standard.

The court stated that Silva’s proposed motion for conditional certification would be addressed at the initial pretrial conference scheduled for August 21, 2024, at 4:20 p.m. The order did not grant or deny the proposed motion.