The low hanging fruit of the FLSA is gone.

I filed my first FLSA collective action in 2001. That was the boom time. The previously unsexy wage and hour claim had come to life. Plaintiffs' counsel were recognizing the great value of statutory attorney fees under a remedial statute coupled with a whole lot of unsuspecting employers.  Life was good and lucrative for more than a decade.


Now though, most employers of any size or sophistication are aware of the risks from unpaid OT or misclassification. Plaintiffs are relegated to rooting around in the cast-off theories of recovery. Big, valuable defendants are mostly gone.  


This well has been worked. Until there is a fracking analogue for FLSA claims, something that can pull more recoveries out of old theories, it is probably time to pull in the pipes and move on.


I know, I know. More than 8,400 FLSA cases were filed in 2012. It's popular. It's booming. How many were filed in 2001? Less than a 1,850. See, http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/660319.txt.  A 450% gain in a decade is quite a run.


But borrowing a phrase from the investment world: When everyone goes to one side of the ship, it's time to go to the other side. The Johnny-come-lately staffing by employer defense firms over the past two or three years seals it for me. By the time the Ogletree Deakins of the legal world got on board big time, the top in FLSA claims was near.


For lawyers looking for valuable practice areas, and I am speaking only from personal experience and my own observation-based opinion, the FLSA is played out. There are better opportunities elsewhere.