Judge Says Courts No Longer Need To Play Big Brother To FLSA Settlements

Parties might be able to privately settle their FLSA disputes without court approval -- and without disclosing the amount -- provided they don’t care if they obtain a valid release.

Finally a court has untangled the web of case law that often mistook the fact that a release of FLSA claims in a purely private settlement of FLSA claims may be void with an outright ban on private settlements.  In Picerni v. Bilingual SEIT & Preschool Inc., Judge Cogan of the federal district court for the Eastern District of New Yorkissued an opinion clarifying that just because a release might be void doesn’t mean parties are not free to privately settle their FLSA claims.  It simply means that such settlements are more risky.  A settlement without a (court-approved) valid release is still a settlement of a lawsuit, and still means that the lawsuit should be dismissed.

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