Wage & Hour Collective and Class Actions: Asserting and Challenging Affirmative Defenses
Leveraging Good Faith, Doctrine of Avoidable Consequences, and Other Defenses
Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A
This CLE course will guide employment counsel on leveraging affirmative defenses in wage and hour cases. The panel will explain strategies for counsel for employers and employees when asserting or challenging affirmative defenses in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state class and collective actions.
Outline
- Overview of affirmative defenses to FLSA and state wage and hour claims
- Best practices for asserting affirmative defenses
- Establish policy and reporting procedure
- Training for managers and employees
- Correct improper pay practices
- Pay back wages
- Challenging affirmative defenses: plaintiff’s perspective
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What affirmative defenses may be useful in defeating certification?
- What are some best practices for employers' counsel asserting the affirmative defenses of good faith or avoidable consequences in wage and hour cases?
- What strategies should counsel for employees use to challenge the good faith or avoidable consequences defenses in wage and hour litigation?
- What policies and practices should employers establish to enable them to assert certain affirmative defenses?
Faculty

Melissa Lardo Stewart
Partner
Outten & Golden
Ms. Stewart primarily litigates class wage and hour and discrimination cases. She has represented employees across many... | Read More
Ms. Stewart primarily litigates class wage and hour and discrimination cases. She has represented employees across many industries, including restaurant workers, retail workers, mortgage loan officers, service and installation technicians, call center workers, and financial services employees. Ms. Stewart is active in her professional community, and currently serves as a board member for the New York affiliate of the National Employment Lawyers Association.
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Noel P. Tripp
Principal
Jackson Lewis
Mr. Tripp practices exclusively in employment law and has been involved in matters pending before federal and state... | Read More
Mr. Tripp practices exclusively in employment law and has been involved in matters pending before federal and state courts and administrative agencies covering the gamut of employment-related matters from discrimination and workplace harassment to wage/hour disputes and affirmative-action compliance. His principal focus is the defense of class and collective action lawsuits under federal and state wage-and-hour laws.
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