Craig v. Rite Aid Corp., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114785 (M.D. Pa. Dec. 9, 2009)

Court conditionally certified a class of persons employed as assistant managers who were classified as "exempt" pursuant to the fair labor standards act.

In Craig, the court conditionally certified a collective class under the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide notice to any assistant manager who was classified as an "exempt employee" in any one of the defendant's 4,901 stores. There, the named plaintiff alleges that she was misclassified as an exempt, salaried employee and was, therefore, not compensated for overtime hours worked. The court, in conditionally certifying the class, noted that the plaintiff's burden for conditional certification is "relatively light" and the defendant would be entitled to challenge whether the employees are actually "similarly situated" at the close of discovery. However, as notice will be going out to assistant managers in the defendant's 4,901 stores, the ramifications of this "relatively light" burden are substantial.

Case Law Alert - 1st Qtr 2010