{"id":29766,"date":"2023-05-23T16:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T16:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/?post_type=publications&p=29766"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:20:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:20:34","slug":"sixth-circuit-rejects-two-step-collective-certification-process-in-flsa-suits","status":"publish","type":"publications","link":"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/sixth-circuit-rejects-two-step-collective-certification-process-in-flsa-suits\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixth Circuit Rejects Two-Step Collective Certification Process in FLSA Suits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In a welcomed change to a class certification process that has long favored plaintiffs, the Sixth Circuit\u2019s May 19, 2023 decision in Clark\/Holder v. A&L Homecare and Training Center, LLC<\/em> adopts a new standard for certifying Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions. In doing so, the Sixth Circuit becomes just the second appeals court to reject district courts\u2019 use of the common two-step procedure for collective action certification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FLSA allows employees to file suit for alleged federal minimum wage and overtime violations. Employees can pursue alleged violations on \u201cbehalf of\u2026themselves and other employees similarly situated.\u201d The Supreme Court held, in Hoffman-La Roche v. Sperling, <\/em>493 U.S. 165 (1989), that courts have an implicit judicial power, when \u201cappropriate,\u201d to facilitate notice to \u201cpotential plaintiffs.\u201d Id. <\/em>at 169. But, \u201cpotential\u201d was not clearly defined by the Court. Clark\/Holder <\/em>sought to answer the question of which plaintiffs are sufficiently \u201csimilar,\u201d thus requiring receipt of notice of an FLSA suit as \u201cpotential plaintiffs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September of 2020, the co-plaintiffs, who were home-health aids, brought suit against their employer under the FLSA and corresponding Ohio law. The named-plaintiffs alleged they were not paid sufficient overtime, nor properly reimbursed for vehicle expenses. The plaintiffs moved the district court to facilitate notice of their action to three groups of employees who worked for the employer. In doing so, the court utilized the nearly universal two-part certification process for FLSA collective actions adopted by most district courts since 1987. See Lusardi v. Xerox Corp., <\/em>118 F.R.D. 351, 361 (D.N.J 1987)<\/a>. Under that two-step certification process, courts first determine whether there is a \u201cmodest factual showing\u201d that those to whom plaintiffs want to send notice are \u201csimilarly situated\u201d to the original plaintiffs (the \u201cconditional certification\u201d step). As implied, a \u201cmodest factual showing\u201d is a very lenient standard and most courts conditionally certify the collective action at the initial stage. Subsequently, when merit discovery concludes, courts engage in the second step of the certification process, revisiting the issue of certification to confirm whether those \u201cother employees\u201d are, in fact, similarly situated to the original plaintiffs based on a more rigorous evidentiary burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Clark\/Holder <\/em>court applied the modest factual showing test during the conditional certification state, certifying two of the three employee groups as \u201ccollectives\u201d for purposes of receiving notice of the lawsuit. The third group was excluded from certification because they had signed \u201cvalid arbitration agreement[s]\u201d with the employer. However, the district court noted that the Sixth Circuit had yet to review the merits of the Lusardi<\/em> two-step certification method, and in fact, the Fifth Circuit recently rejected the test, in Swales v. KLLM Transport Services, LLC<\/em>, 985 F.3d 430, 434 (5th Cir. 2021). Further, the district court noted that the Sixth Circuit had not considered the impact of an arbitration agreement on an employee\u2019s ability to receive notice of collective actions. The court therefore certified its order for interlocutory review under 28 U.S.C. 1292(b), and the Sixth Circuit granted permission for the employer to appeal and for plaintiffs to cross-appeal that order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On appeal, the plaintiffs argued that the Sixth Circuit should adopt the lenient Lusardi <\/em>approach, while the defendant argued the court should reject this approach as occurred in Swales<\/em> and require the court to make a \u201cfinal\u201d determination of substantial similarity before requiring notice of the suit to other employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than adopting either approach, the Sixth Circuit rejected both and created the \u201cstrong likelihood\u201d<\/strong> standard, mirroring the standard used by federal courts in determining whether to grant a preliminary injunction. Under this new standard, plaintiffs seeking certification of a collective action must show a \u201cstrong likelihood\u201d that those employees who will receive notice are similarly situated to the plaintiffs themselves. This requires a showing \u201cgreater than the one necessary to create a genuine issue of fact, but less than the one necessary to show a preponderance.\u201d The court disagreed with the defendant that a determination on whether other employees are \u201cactually\u201d similarly situated should, or even could, occur in the absence of these employees. But, the court also discouraged against the over-lenient \u201cmodest showing\u201d standard in the Lusardi <\/em>approach. Regardless, the court felt this new, compromising analysis should be expedited \u201cto the extent practicable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the Sixth Circuit vacated the district court\u2019s notice determination and remanded the case for redetermination of that issue under the \u201cstrong likelihood\u201d standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will closely monitor how federal courts subsequently apply, or perhaps reject, this \u201cstrong likelihood\u201d standard. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your Dinsmore employment\/litigation attorney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a welcomed change to a class certification process that has long favored plaintiffs, the Sixth Circuit\u2019s May 19, 2023 decision in Clark\/Holder v. A&L Homecare and Training Center, LLC adopts a new standard for certifying Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions. In doing so, the Sixth Circuit becomes just the second appeals court to\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"publication-type":[12],"class_list":["post-29766","publications","type-publications","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","publication-type-legal-alerts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSixth Circuit Rejects Two-Step Collective Certification Process in FLSA Suits - Dinsmore & Shohl<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sixth Circuit Rejects Two-Step Collective Certification Process in FLSA Suits Read insights and legal analysis from attorneys at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/sixth-circuit-rejects-two-step-collective-certification-process-in-flsa-suits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sixth Circuit Rejects Two-Step Collective Certification Process in FLSA Suits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sixth Circuit Rejects Two-Step Collective Certification Process in FLSA Suits Read insights and legal analysis from attorneys at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/sixth-circuit-rejects-two-step-collective-certification-process-in-flsa-suits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dinsmore & Shohl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-24T20:20:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/FLSA-Legal-Alert-Header.srl-crop-1.jpg?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/sixth-circuit-rejects-two-step-collective-certification-process-in-flsa-suits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/sixth-circuit-rejects-two-step-collective-certification-process-in-flsa-suits\/\",\"name\":\"Sixth Circuit Rejects Two-Step Collective Certification Process in FLSA Suits - 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