New York District Court Rejects Putative Class Settlement Involving Interns

An improper class still isn't a class even if you settle

Here's something you don't see every day. A district court has rejected the settlement of a proposed class and collective action – not due to the usual reasons such as excessive attorney fees or other terms, but because the plaintiffs have not shown that there is any class in the first place.

Fraticelli v. MSG Holdings, L.P., Case No. 13 Civ. 6518 (S.D.N.Y. July 2, 2018), involved claims by unpaid interns working at Madison Square Garden since 2007. They contended that they were actually employees and should have received the minimum wage and overtime for the time that they worked. They filed their claims in 2013, when many such suits were being filed, but the district court denied conditional certification in 2014. We blogged about that initial decision here. The court's decision was rooted in common sense – the test under the FLSA involves multiple factors, and the specific work and circumstances for each