Fair Labor Standards Act Individual Claims Time-barred.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Peggy Jo Smith, et al., v. Professional Transportation, Inc., et al.,

Case No.: 20-2046

Officials: WOOD, BRENNAN, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Fair Labor Standards Act Individual Claims Time-barred

Between November 2011 and August 2013, Peggy Jo Smith worked for Professional Transportation Inc. (PTI), a company that transports railroad crews to and from their places of work. Believing that her position was misclassified for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("the Act") and that she was not receiving proper overtime wages, she filed this action "individually and on behalf of similarly situated individuals" on December 26, 2013. The Act permits both individual actions and collective proceedings. See 29 U.S.C. 216(b). Unlike the better-known class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), however, which includes everyone in the class who does not opt out, the FLSA collective action requires group members affirmatively to opt into the collective action in order to participate.

At first, it seemed that Smith's effort to serve as a named representative of a collective action under the Act was proceeding well. Her initial filing was well within the two years that the Act provides for the commencement of litigation. See 29 U.S.C. 255(a). (Indeed, the Act has a three-year limitation period for allegations of willful conduct. Id.) The parties filed a joint case management plan on March 25, 2014, three months after the case was filed, and the district court promptly approved it. Docs. 15, 16. Part IV of that plan addressed "class certification matters." And the district court's docket sheet shows numerous putative group members consenting to opt into the litigation.

The case went off the rails, however, when PTI pointed out that Smith herself had not filed anything in addition to her complaint indicating that she herself wished to participate in the group action. Relying on our decision in Harkins v...