Many litigants are understandably reluctant to publicly disclose
the terms of their settlement agreements. An August 2015 decision
by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Cheeks v.
Freeport Pancake House, 796 F.3d 199, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS
13815 (2d Cir. 2015), nonetheless prevents parties from voluntarily
entering into private settlements of claims under the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA) in New York's federal district
courts.1 This article discusses certain district court
decisions construing Cheeks and strategies employers have
utilized in response to it.
Until Cheeks, if a wage-and-hour case was settled at a
conference before one of the district courts within the Second
Circuit, the parties could finalize a written settlement agreement
and simply submit a stipulation of dismissal for the court's
endorsement, or agree to place the material terms of their
settlement on the record, which would often include, inter alia, a
requirement that the parties
