Arean v. Central Florida Investments, Inc.

Filing 142

ORDER: The parties are directed to file a detailed and specific motion for Court approval of the settlement of this Fair Labor Standards Act case within twenty days of the date of this Order. Signed by Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington on 5/11/2012. (MEB)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
VICTOR AREAN, ET AL.,
Plaintiffs,
v.

Case No. 8:10-cv-2244-T-33MAP

CENTRAL FLORIDA INVESTMENTS,
INC., ET AL.,
Defendants.
______________________________/
ORDER
This matter is before the Court pursuant to Plaintiffs’
Notice of Settlement (Doc. # 141), filed on April 16, 2012.
The Notice states that the parties have reached a settlement
and

"anticipate

filing

a

Joint

Motion

Settlement within the next few weeks.”
documents have yet been filed.

for

Approval

of

However, no such

As Plaintiffs seek relief

under the Fair Labor Standards Act, additional information is
needed before this Court can dispose of this case.
Analysis
Plaintiff

Victor

Arean

filed

his

complaint

against

Defendant Central Florida Investments, Inc., his employer, on
September 3, 2010, (Doc. # 2), alleging that Defendant failed
to pay overtime compensation in violation of the Fair Labor
Standards Act.

Plaintiff filed an amended complaint on

October 14, 2010, which added Dana Jackson as a plaintiff to

the FLSA action and added the remaining Defendants.
4).

(Doc. #

Plaintiffs subsequently added additional claims for

sexual harassment and retaliation, and the Court granted
summary judgment in favor of Defendants on those claims on
April 10, 2012. (Doc. # 136).

On April 16, 2012, Plaintiffs

filed the instant Notice indicating that the parties reached
a settlement of Plaintiffs’ remaining FLSA claims.
The Eleventh Circuit ruled in Lynn’s Food Stores, Inc. v.
United States, 679 F.2d 1350, 1352 (11th Cir. 1982): “Congress
made the FLSA’s terms mandatory; thus, the provisions are not
subject to negotiations or bargaining between employers and
employees.

FLSA rights cannot be abridged by contract or

otherwise waived because this would nullify the purpose of the
statute and thwart the legislative policies it was designed to
effectuate.” (internal citations omitted).
In

Lynn’s

Food

Store,

the

employer

sought

judicial

approval of private agreements it entered into with its
employees

to

settle

FLSA

violations.

Pursuant

to

the

settlement agreements, the employees waived their rights to
file FLSA claims in exchange for a small fraction of the back
wages

that

the

Department

employees were owed.

of

Labor

concluded

that

the

Specifically, the employer offered only

$1,000.00 to be divided between fourteen employees.
2

The

employees were not represented by counsel, and it was clear
that the employees were not fairly compensated.

Concerned

about the unequal bargaining power between employers and
employees, the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the agreements
could not be approved absent supervision of the Department of
Labor or a stipulated judgment entered by a court which has
determined that the settlement is a fair and reasonable
resolution of the FLSA claims. (citations omitted).
Thus, a compromise of an employee’s FLSA rights through
a settlement of a lawsuit is subject to judicial scrutiny. Id.
However, as stated in Su v. Electronic Arts, Inc., 6:05-cv131-Orl-28JGG, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98894, at *8 (M.D. Fla.
Aug. 29, 2007), “Where the employer offers the plaintiff full
compensation on his FLSA claim, no compromise is involved and
judicial approval is not required.” (citing Mackenzie v.
Kindred Hosps. E., LLC, 276 F. Supp. 2d 1211, 1217 (M.D. Fla.
2003)).
The parties have yet to advise the Court of the terms of
the

settlement,

compensated

for

including
their

whether

hours

Accordingly, within twenty

Plaintiffs

worked,

including

were

fully

overtime.

days of the date of this Order,

the parties shall file a motion for approval of the settlement
of this case consistent with the authorities outlined above.
The parties are advised that this Court will not accept a
3

generic

motion

devoid

settlement

at

issue.

settlement

shall

of

relevant

The

contain

motion

specific

information
for

about

approval

information,

of

the
the

including

information about attorney’s fees, to allow for meaningful
Court review.
Accordingly, it is
ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED:
The parties are directed to file a detailed and specific
motion for Court approval of the settlement of this Fair Labor
Standards Act case within twenty days of the date of this
Order.
DONE and ORDERED in Chambers in Tampa, Florida, this 11th
day of May, 2012.

Copies:
All Counsel of Record

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