Outten & Golden LLP, along with our co-counsel Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP and the Shavitz Law Group, represent a group of current and former Apprentices who worked for Chipotle Mexican Grill in a lawsuit alleging that Chipotle misclassified Apprentices as exempt from federal and state overtime pay requirements and failed to pay them overtime wages. According to the complaint, brought as a class and collective action, the plaintiffs and other Apprentices regularly worked over 50 hours per week without receiving overtime compensation, and spent the majority of their time performing customer service and food preparation duties. The case is Scott et al. v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., No. 12 Civ. 8333, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
After 516 plaintiffs opted in to the nationwide federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action, on March 29, 2017, the judge presiding over the case issued an order decertifying the collective, and denying certification for six classes of Apprentices under Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, and Washington state law. The decision is available here.
The Second Circuit granted Plaintiffs leave to file an immediate interlocutory appeal of the certification and decertification order. The parties are currently briefing the appeals and argument is expected to take place in the Fall of 2018.
Please contact Justin M. Swartz or Melissa L. Stewart, or call (212) 245-1000 for more information.
(*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.)