Six months ago, when Novartis agreed to a $99 million settlement in a wage-and-hour class action, the company’s decision raised the question of why Novartis didn’t let the litigation play out long enough for the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a pending ruling in another case that could wipe out the plaintiffs’ claims in one blow? Now the Supreme Court has finally issued its ruling, finding that pharma sales reps in a parallel case against GlaxoSmithKline aren’t entitled to overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Southern District Judge Paul Crotty didn’t grant final approval of the settlement and close the case until May 31less than three weeks before the Supreme Court’s June 18 ruling in Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham (NYLJ, June 19) that drug company sales representatives fall under an FLSA exemption for “outside salesmen” and can’t sue for overtime pay. The parties technically have 30 days to appeal Crotty’s order. But Novartis said in an e-mailed statement that the high court’s ruling “will not affect” the settlement and that the deal would stand.
