Opinion
3:21-cv-193-DPM
08-08-2022
JILL WISE, Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated PLAINTIFF v. VITAL LINK INC. DEFENDANT
ORDER
D.P. MARSHALL JR., UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
The Court appreciates the parties' second joint status report, Doc. 18, and applauds the progress made toward a settlement. Wise's pending motion for conditional certification, Doc. 19, needs to be addressed for this case to continue moving forward. The Court therefore lifts the stay for the limited purpose of tending to Wise's motion.
Jill Wise worked as a clinical employee (paramedic) for Vital Link, Inc., from February 2006 until 2021. She says that she was not properly paid for working overtime because the overtime rate calculation did not include incentive bonuses and top-out bonuses. As a part of the parties' ongoing settlement negotiations, Wise moves unopposed to conditionally certify a collective action. Doc. 19. The Court agrees that certain Vital Link employees were subject to a common wage policy and are similarly situated. Hoffman-La Roche, Inc. v. Sperling, 493 U.S. 165 (1989); Smith v. Frac Tech Services, LLC, No. 4:09-cv-679-JLH, 2009 WL 4251017 (E.D. Ark. 24 November 2009). The Court therefore conditionally certifies the following group:
All hourly clinical employees of Vital Link, Inc., who received a top out bonus or extra incentive bonus any time after 15 September 2018.
The Court directs Vital Link to provide Plaintiffs counsel an electronic spreadsheet containing a list of the names, last known telephone numbers, and mailing addresses of group members.
The proposed notice, consent forms, and reminder post cards are approved with tweaks. Doc. 19-1, 19-2 & 19-3. Please delete the dash in "hourly paid" each time that phrase appears. In the final paragraph of Section Three of the Notice, please change "Little Rock" to "Jonesboro." Doc. 19-1 at 2. And please insert the opt-in deadline, of course. Here is the schedule.
• Vital Link produces spreadsheet 22 August 2022
• Notice period opens 6 September 2022
• Deadline to mail thirty-day reminder postcards 6 October 2022
• Opt-in period closes 7 November 2022
• Joint Motion to approve and dismiss or Joint Status Report 7 December 2022
Unopposed motion, Doc. 19, granted as modified. Stay reinstated.
So Ordered.