Employers sometimes discover that, due to mistake, inadvertence,
misunderstanding, or a lack of knowledge, they have not paid all of
the wages required under the federal Fair Labor Standards
Act. In many instances, this does not occur in the context of
a lawsuit or a U.S. Department of Labor compliance audit.
Instead, management learns this as the result of, for example, an
internal review.
The employer is prepared to pay the wages due but wants to be
sure that it will not then also face claims for additional sums,
such as an equal amount as liquidated damages and/or attorney's
fees and court costs. May such claims simply be precluded in
a release?
A Rock And A Hard Place
Unfortunately, the predominant view among the courts is that
FLSA claims may be conclusively resolved only (i) under USDOL's
supervision, or (ii) when a judge has scrutinized the settlement of
a lawsuit for fairness and has entered a judgment dismissing
the case. The relatively few, limited
