Court Conditionally Certifies Multi-State Class in Overtime Action Against Commonwealth

In Jost v. Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company, 2009 WL 211943, No. 4:08CV734 (E.D.Mo. Jan. 27, 2009), four former St. Louis area escrow officers sued Commonwealth under the Fair Labor Standards Act claiming that they were encouraged to work, but not report, overtime. The plaintiffs sought conditional certification of their case as a nationwide collective action so that they could notify other past and present Commonwealth employees of the opportunity to “opt in” as plaintiffs in the litigation.

In support of their request, the plaintiffs submitted affidavits alleging that managers of Commonwealth’s St. Louis offices actively encouraged unpaid, unreported overtime. Plaintiffs also submitted evidence of similar practices in Commonwealth offices outside of Missouri.

The court declined to certify a nationwide class primarily because Commonwealth had a written policy requiring employees to accurately report all hours worked and barring management from requiring any employee from working off the clock. Additionally, the court found that plaintiffs failed to present any evidence suggesting that supervisors nationwide disregarded the written overtime policy.

However, the court concluded that the plaintiffs’ affidavits and deposition testimony were sufficient to support conditional certification of a class of all residential escrow officers (or those whose job it was to close residential loans or prepare loan paperwork for residential closings) who worked in Commonwealth’s offices in Missouri, Michigan, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Nebraska from May 21, 2005 to the present.