Fla. Tops List Of Hot Spots For New FLSA Suits

The number of new Fair Labor Standards Act filings in New York and Texas rose in 2009, but neither state came close to rivaling the volume of new FLSA cases in Florida. Law360 ranked the five busiest federal courts for wage-and-hour litigation and found the Sunshine State to be a hotbed of plaintiffs bar activity.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida saw 1,252 new FLSA cases show up on its docket — either through removal, or the filing of a brand new case — in the 2009 calendar year, according to PACER. The Middle District of Florida wasn't far behind, with 776 new filings.

The second-busiest venue for FLSA cases is the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which logged 361 new filings in 2009. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York came a close third, with 300 new wage-and-hour suits. New York's four district courts saw a combined 695 new FLSA cases in 2009, up from 547 new suits in 2008 and 388 in 2007.

Lawyers pointed to the New York Labor Law's six-year statute of limitations — double the three-year statute of limitations for a willful FLSA violation — as one factor behind the rise of FLSA suits in the state.