The United States Supreme Court declined on Monday to resolve a split among appeals courts over whether federal wage law allows workers to file nationwide class action-style lawsuits, dismissing a case involving FedEx Corp.
FedEx security specialist Christa Fischer’s petition for review of a July ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said because her overtime pay lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania, only workers from that state could join was denied.
Companies and business groups have been urging courts to limit nationwide wage-and-hour lawsuits, citing a 2017 Supreme Court decision that said people who lived outside of California could not join a state-court product liability case filed against Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
In the FedEx case, the 3rd Circuit joined the 6th and 8th Circuits, which both said in 2021 that courts lack jurisdiction over residents of other states.
The 1st and 7th Circuits, on the other hand, have ruled that the wage law was intended to allow large-scale collective actions against companies operating in multiple states. Last year, the Supreme Court declined to hear appeals in those cases.
FedEx, based in Tennessee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did Fischer’s lawyers.
In a 2019 lawsuit filed in federal court in Philadelphia, Fischer claimed that FedEx misclassified security specialists across the country as independent contractors rather than employees, denying them overtime pay required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Workers can file “collective actions” under the FLSA, which are similar to class action lawsuits but have some key procedural differences, such as the requirement that other workers opt-in to be included.
In 2020, a federal judge refused to let FedEx employees from New York and Maryland join the case, citing the Bristol-Myers decision. The 3rd Circuit upheld that ruling last year, prompting Fischer’s petition to the Supreme Court.
The United States Chamber of Commerce, the country’s largest business lobby, urged the Third Circuit to rule in favor of FedEx. The group argued in a 2021 amicus brief that allowing nationwide FLSA lawsuits would create uncertainty for employers and encourage workers to “forum shop” by filing in plaintiff-friendly courts.
The case is Fischer v. Federal Express Corp., No. 22-396 in the United States Supreme Court.
Adam Hansen of Apollo Law is representing Fischer.
Morgan Lewis & Bockius’ David Salmons represents FedEx.
