Landers v. Quality Communications: US Supreme Court Denies Cert in Case Involving FLSA Pleading Standards

On April 20, 2015, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari in Landers v. Quality Communications, Inc., ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. 11/12/14). In Landers, the Ninth Circuit affirmed an order dismissing a collective action under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for failure to meet the heightened pleading standards set forth in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009).

[T]o survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff asserting a claim to overtime payments must allege that she worked more than forty hours in a given workweek without being compensated for the overtime hours worked during that workweek... A plaintiff may establish a plausible claim by estimating the length of her average workweek during the applicable period and the average rate at which she was paid, the amount of overtime wages she believes she is owed, or any other facts that will permit the court to find plausibility. However, like the other circuit courts that have ruled before us, we decline to make the approximation of overtime hours the sine qua non of plausibility for claims brought under the FLSA. After all, most (if not all) of the detailed information concerning a plaintiff-employee's compensation and schedule is in the control of the defendants. 

We further agree with our sister circuits that, at a minimum, a plaintiff asserting a violation of the FLSA overtime provisions must allege that she worked more than forty hours in a given workweek without being compensated for the hours worked in excess of forty during that week. 

The opinion is available here.