Stone v. Troy Construction—civil—reversal—Jordan

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the statute of limitations to bring suit is a year longer if the FLSA violation was willful. Today, the Third Circuit reversed a district court’s ruling that employees’ claims were barred by the shorter deadline for non-willful violations, holding that the district court applied an overly burdensome standard for assessing wilfulness when it effectively required employer conduct worse than recklessness.

Joining Jordan were Krause and Roth. Arguing counsel were Matthew Miller of Swartz Swidler for the employees and James Boudreau of Greenberg Traurig for the employer.

Secretary US Dept. of Labor v. Bristol Excavating—civil—reversal in part—Jordan

In the second of today’s Jordan-authored FSLA reversals, the Third Circuit held that bonuses paid by third parties to employees do not automatically count as “remuneration” that employers must include when calculating the employees’ over time rate. Instead, whether bonuses paid by third parties must be included in the overtime-pay calculation depends on the understanding of the employer and the employees, to be determined case-by-case.

Joining Jordan were Smith and Rendell. (Smith replaced Vanaskie on the panel after the latter’s retirement.) Arguing counsel were Casandra Blaney of Brann Williams for the employer and Rachel Goldberg for the labor department.

Wolfington v. Reconstructive Orthopaedic Assocs.—civil—partial reversal—Fuentes

A surgery patient alleged that his medical provider violated the Truth in Lending Act by failing to make certain disclosures about installment payment of his deductible. The Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the claim on the ground that TILA’s disclosure requirement did not apply to the oral agreement here. But the Third Circuit vacated the district court’s sua sponte imposition of Rule 11 sanctions, holding that substantive grounds for the sanctions were mistaken and that sua sponte awards of attorneys’ fees under Rule 11 are not allowed.

Joining Fuentes were Krause and Cowen. Arguing counsel were Peter LeVan Jr. of the LeVan Law Group for the appellant and Laura Ruccolo of Capehart Scatchard for the medical provider.