Agents Can’t Insure Class Treatment – Varied Experiences Require Decertification

Last week, a federal district court decertified a Rule 23 class of more than 1,000 insurance agents who claimed that Bankers Life and Casualty Co. misclassified them as independent contractors, and, as a result, they were entitled $16.9 million in overtime damages under the Washington Minimum Wage Act. In decertifying the class, the court held that “[d]etermining whether class members are employees or contractors under the economic-dependence test” — the same “economic reality” factors typically applied under the Fair Labor Standards Act — “would require an individualized inquiry into each agent’s experience,” meaning “individualized fact questions predominate over common ones” and “[c]lass treatment would be unmanageable."

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