Employment – FLSA – Discovery

Where a plaintiff filed a motion to compel discovery in a putative collective action alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, that motion should be allowed in part and denied in part.

“Plaintiff asks for two categories of discovery. The first category seeks identifying information for potential plaintiffs (those who, as defined by Plaintiff, perform the same categories of activities as alleged in the Complaint) at all eleven plants operated by Defendants throughout the United States. The second category asks for the production of time and pay records for those same employees. Having considered the parties’ briefs and their oral argument, the Court will grant in part and deny in part the relief sought.

“As detailed in the joint statement, Plaintiff asks for an order compelling Defendant to:

“1. Respond to Plaintiff’s Interrogatory No. 1 by identify[ing] all former and current non-exempt manufacturing employees employed at one or more of Defendant’s manufacturing plants in the United States between November 8, 2019 and the present who were required by their jobs to perform the same categories of activities alleged in the complaint as being in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (i.e., changing into and out of personal protective equipment; retrieving parts or equipment; walking to and from their assigned area of the manufacturing floor; and/or performing manufacturing work on the manufacturing floor, before and/or after their scheduled shift start and stop time), by providing (in Microsoft Office Excel format) their names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of employment with Defendant, and the location of the manufacturing plant(s) where they worked for Defendant; and

“2. Respond to Plaintiff’s Request for Production No. 1 by producing time and pay records for the individuals Defendant is ordered to identify in response to Interrogatory No. 1.

“Thus, Plaintiff’s motion to compel (ECF No. 29) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART, as further detailed above. Defendant is ORDERED to respond to Request for Production No. 1 by producing the time and pay records of the implicated employees as circumscribed above, after redacting or coding the names and identifying information with pseudonyms. Such records must be produced within two weeks of the date of this order. The parties shall then work cooperatively to timely identify a sampling of employees from which Plaintiff may seek targeted discovery related to the issue of being ‘similarly situated’ for purposes of notice.”

Duncan v. Magna Seating of Am. Inc.; MiLW 02-107986, 16 pages; U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; Parker, J.

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