Molina v. Huaxcuaxtla Restaurant Corp.

Background

Plaintiffs brought this Fair Labor Standards Act action on behalf of themselves and a proposed collective of similarly situated workers. An initial pretrial conference was scheduled for July 23, 2020. The parties’ joint letter and proposed case-management plan did not raise significant issues.

Court’s actions

The court canceled the July 23 initial pretrial conference. It stated that the parties could promptly ask to reinstate the conference if they believed one would be useful. The court also said that the case-management plan and scheduling order would be issued separately and directed the parties’ attention to periodic status letters and the requirement for a pre-motion letter concerning later proceedings.

The court directed the parties to meet and discuss whether they could stipulate to conditional certification and the form of notice. Conditional certification is the preliminary step of allowing a Fair Labor Standards Act case to proceed collectively while notice is sent to potentially similar workers. The court noted that this preliminary step uses a lenient standard and expressly reserved the defendants’ rights to object to final certification under the more demanding standard that applies later.

Deadlines and next conference

The court ordered plaintiffs to file any conditional-certification motion by August 21, 2020. Defendants’ opposition would be due September 4, 2020, and plaintiffs’ reply would be due September 11, 2020. The court scheduled an October 1, 2020, conference at 10:50 a.m. for an oral ruling if plaintiffs filed the motion.

Disposition

The order canceled the initial pretrial conference and set procedures for a possible conditional-certification motion. It did not grant or deny conditional certification and did not decide the underlying Fair Labor Standards Act claims.