Workers who claim they were cheated out of overtime pay cannot pursue their claims as both an “opt-in” collective action and an “opt-out” class action because the latter frustrates the purposes of the former, a federal judge in Harrisburg, Pa., has ruled.
In Otto v. Pocono Health System, the plaintiffs, who work at a Wilkes-Barre, Pa., hospital, brought claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and two state laws — the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law.
