McCurry v. Bells Nursing Home, Inc., 1:17-cv-01010

Plaintiffs Sarah McCurry and Dwan Wills, beauticians at two separate nursing homes operated by related defendants, sued under the FLSA alleging underpayment of minimum wage and overtime due to inaccurate, employer-prepared time sheets.
Plaintiffs allege payroll required them to sign false biweekly timesheets that understated hours worked, sometimes up to 80 hours in a pay period.
Complaint asserts willful violations of the FLSA (seeking the three-year limitations period) and seeks to proceed as a collective action on behalf of similarly situated employees.
Defendants moved to partially dismiss, arguing (1) Plaintiffs failed to plead facts making willfulness plausible, and (2) Plaintiffs failed to plead a common payroll practice sufficient to support collective-action allegations.
Plaintiffs opposed, arguing the Complaint (including specific allegations about falsified timesheets and a systematic practice) adequately pleads willfulness and that collective-certification issues are premature and belong at the conditional-certification stage.
Court denied the partial motion to dismiss, finding the Complaint plausibly alleged willfulness and alleged a unified policy sufficient to survive pleading-stage attack on collective claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the Complaint plausibly alleges willful FLSA violations (invoking 3-year statute)	Plaintiffs allege defendants knowingly required signing of false timesheets and thus acted willfully/recklessly	Plaintiffs plead only conclusory willfulness; no factual showing defendants knew or disregarded the law	Denied — Complaint pleads facts (payroll scheme forcing false time records) that make willfulness plausible at pleading stage
Whether Plaintiffs pleaded a sufficient common policy/practice to support collective action allegations	Plaintiffs allege a single payroll practice (false timesheets) affecting all putative members; conditional certification issues are premature	Complaint lacks factual detail to show a unified unlawful policy across defendants; should be dismissed now	Denied — Court treats collective-certification merits as premature; pleading-level allegations suffice to proceed to conditional-certification stage

Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (plausibility pleading standard for factual allegations)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (pleading must be plausible, not merely speculative)
Elwell v. Univ. Hosps. Home Care Servs., 276 F.3d 832 (willfulness defined as knowledge or reckless disregard under FLSA)
Hughes v. Region VII Area Agency on Aging, 542 F.3d 169 (statute-of-limitations accrual and willfulness context under FLSA)
O'Brien v. Ed Donnelly Enterprs., 575 F.3d 567 (standard for collective actions under FLSA)