Robinson v. Flowers Bakeries, LLC, 2:16-cv-02669

Background

Plaintiffs (Rodney Robinson and opt-in Anthony Smith) brought a collective FLSA overtime action and a Rule 23 Kansas Wage Payment Act class action alleging unpaid donning/doffing and related walking time at Flowers Baking facilities across several states.
Parties reached a proposed settlement creating a $1.2 million common fund for ~872 current and former employees at multiple facilities.
The proposed settlement used a Rule 23 opt-out notice system; absent an opt-out, class members would release state-law claims and FLSA claims.
Plaintiffs moved for preliminary approval of the settlement; the court reviewed the agreement, notice, and release language.
The court denied preliminary approval without prejudice, citing legal and procedural deficiencies that must be corrected before approval or the parties must proceed to litigation.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether FLSA claims can be released via a Rule 23 opt-out settlement	Settlement releases FLSA claims as part of the Rule 23 class unless members opt out; plaintiffs did not cite contrary authority	Settlement parties propose binding the class (unless they opt out) to release all claims, including FLSA	Court refused preliminary approval: FLSA claims cannot be released through Rule 23 opt-out procedure absent affirmative opt-in authority
Whether cashing settlement checks constitutes §216(b) opt-in	Plaintiffs contended class members would release FLSA claims only if they cashed checks	Defendants relied on settlement structure that did not condition releases on cashing checks in the agreement	Court rejected the cashing-checks-as-opt-in argument and cited authority rejecting that practice
Scope of the release vs. asserted claims	Plaintiffs accepted a broad release of "any and all" wage claims relating to unpaid/untimely wages	Defendants sought a comprehensive release covering known and unknown wage claims	Court held the release appears overbroad compared to the pleaded donning/doffing and walking-time claims and must be narrowed or justified
Notice and objection procedures	Plaintiffs submitted a Notice and agreement that differed on objection mechanics and availability of the settlement agreement	Defendants proposed stricter notice/objection requirements in the Notice than in the agreement	Court found the Notice inconsistent and overly burdensome; instructed parties to harmonize Notice with the agreement and provide access to the agreement

Key Cases Cited

The court relied primarily on unpublished district-court decisions (reported only with Westlaw citations) to support the proposition that FLSA collective claims cannot be released via a Rule 23 opt-out procedure. The opinion did not rely on any officially reported (regional reporter) cases for that point.