Green v. Perry's Restaurants LTD, 1:21-cv-00023

Plaintiffs Lance Green and Anderson Khalid, former servers at Perry’s Steakhouse locations, brought a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action alleging failure to pay minimum wages and misuse of tips.
Plaintiffs represented themselves and similarly situated servers who worked at Perry’s in Colorado, Alabama, North Carolina, or Florida in the prior three years and were paid a subminimum wage.
The collective was conditionally certified, and about 135 individuals opted in as plaintiffs.
The dispute proceeded to the "second stage" decertification analysis, applying a stricter standard to whether opt-in plaintiffs are "similarly situated."
Plaintiffs advanced three 'subclaims': (1) unlawful tip pool, (2) excessive non-tipped side work for which tip credit was taken, and (3) improper deduction for uniforms/equipment.
Defendants moved to decertify the collective, focusing on differences among plaintiffs' circumstances and raising a jurisdictional challenge for out-of-state claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
1. Unlawful Tip Pool	Tip pool included employees not eligible (e.g., hosts, food runners), violated FLSA	Participation in pool eligibility requires individualized inquiry per role/location	Collective can proceed as to inclusion of non-tipped employees, but not for claims about retention of tips or distribution to unstaffed positions
2. Side Work (80/20 Rule)	All locations use same checklist; servers spent substantial time on side duties	Side work requirements varied, requiring individualized assessment	Sufficient similarity for collective treatment; motion denied on this claim
3. Uniform/Equipment Deductions	Uniform and equipment costs unlawfully deducted by Perry’s	Plaintiffs varied in costs/deductions, making collective treatment improper	Variation relates only to damages; collective can proceed on this claim
4. Personal Jurisdiction Over Opt-in Plaintiffs	Bristol-Myers does not apply to FLSA collectives; jurisdiction is proper	Bristol-Myers bars claims for opt-in plaintiffs outside forum, especially against PRL	Court rejects Bristol-Myers argument; maintains jurisdiction for collective

Thiessen v. Gen. Elec. Capital Corp., 267 F.3d 1095 (10th Cir. 2001) (establishes two-stage standard for FLSA collective certification/decertification)
Marlow v. New Food Guy, Inc., 861 F.3d 1157 (10th Cir. 2017) (explains FLSA tip credit and minimum wage requirements)
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., 582 U.S. 255 (2017) (specific jurisdiction over nonresident plaintiffs in mass actions)