Mad Men is a show known for many things: it’s a snapshot of the style and attitudes of the 1960’s, an accurate representation of the themes and difficulties of that period, and it thrives on the “slow burn” story lines that typically take an entire season to unfold before reaching conclusion. Indeed, it is a show respected and praised for its subtlety, which is why some critics gave the recently finished fifth season lower marks, as it shifted into high-gear on several occasions to advance the plot quickly (Lane Pryce knows what I’m talking about — or rather, he did know).
In a similar vein, the judge in Steinberg v. TD Bank, N.A., Case no. 10-CV-5600 (D.N.J. June 27, 2012), spared no subtlety in her ruling granting conditional certification a class of at least 1,000 TD Bank customer service representatives. The reps, which are known as “banking specialists,” alleged that they were denied overtime pay. Specifically, they complained that they were required to arrive 15 to 30 minutes early to prepare their computer systems, but they were not permitted to clock-in until their shifts began. Likewise, they were required to attend monthly training sessions during their lunch periods, but were not allowed to record such time as work.
Ultimately, even though the specialists worked in two different call centers in two different states (New Jersey and Maine), they were similarly situated enough due to the fact that they shared a common grievance and were subjected to the same unwritten company-wide policy that violated the FLSA. Again, throwing subtlety aside, the judge deemed it irrelevant that some employees did clock in for the computer prep time, and that the company specifically instructed the employees to clock in and count the training sessions as work time. The judge ruled only that conditional certification required “similarly situated, not identical; some differences can therefore be tolerated.”
But, like (SPOILER ALERT) Peggy leaving Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (or is it “Sterling Cooper Draper Holloway” now?), the judge had a surprise in store for everyone when she ordered that the employer must turn over only the names and addresses of the banking specialists for notice. She refused to order the bank to provide telephone numbers, email addresses, social security numbers, and dates of employment of the potential class members, as it would be “excessive and unfairly prejudicial.” In addition, she limited the opt-in period for class members to only 45 days, and also denied the specialist’s request to post notice of the action in the call centers where they worked.
The Bottom Line: While courts may continue to find the threshold for granting conditional certification to be exceptionally low, employers may still incur smaller victories by requesting limited notices and posting on grounds of unfair prejudice.