Workers can bring claims against their employers under both federal collective actions and state law class actions simultaneously, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, holding the opt-in mechanism of collective actions is not inherently incompatible with the opt-out nature of class actions.
“The historical evidence establishes that Congress created the opt-in [collective action] scheme primarily as a check against the power of unions, whose representatives had allegedly manufactured litigation in which they had no personal stake, and as a bar against one-way intervention by plaintiffs who would not be bound by an adverse judgment,” Judge Anthony J. Scirica wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel that included Judges Marjorie O. Rendell and D. Brooks Smith.
