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FLSA actions threaten public sector employers
August 12, 2006
Preventive Measures For Public Employers by Peter Brown and David Urban discusses four types of FLSA cases frequently brought against public employers. They also provide five useful ways to prevent FLSA lawsuits.
Here's the first paragraph:
Recent years have seen a rise in the number of lawsuits brought by employees against cities, counties, and other public entities under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). These actions, which are brought as “collective actions” specifically authorized by the FLSA, can impose substantial liability on public employers. Legal periodicals regularly report on private sector wage and hour settlements and verdicts well into the tens of millions of dollars, sometimes over a hundred million. The FLSA applies to public sector employers just as it does to those in the private sector, and presents the same magnitude of exposure. This Article will describe the dangers of FLSA collective actions (why an organization’s liability can be so substantial), and how public employers can take steps to avoid such lawsuits.
Peter Brown, left, a partner with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, has been defending California public agencies since 1990 regarding claims brought for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition to public agency FLSA defense work, he has developed the www.FLSAaudit.com website, which enables public agencies to audit their own FLSA compliance. He also represents cities, counties, special districts, and school and community college districts in litigation, administrative proceedings, negotiations and grievances. Brown has also spoken at many conferences in California as well as throughout the United States on the many pitfalls which the FLSA presents and how to avoid them.
David Urban, right, who is of counsel with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, has fourteen years of experience practicing litigation in federal and state courts, and has successfully defended numerous employment litigation cases, including alleged employment discrimination, whistleblower and collective bargaining rights cases. He provides employment advice to California employers, and was a contributing author to the ABA Treatise The Fair Labor Standards Act.
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