A federal district court recently allowed a claim to proceed under the Fair Labor Standards Act, even though the plaintiff did not specifically plead the statute in her complaint before a state agency. Reilly v. Quick Care, 2014 U.S. Dist. Lexis 77816 (D.N.J. 2014)

Veronica Reilly filed a claim for unpaid vacation time and overtime with the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development.  She prevailed.  She was then fired.  She filed a one-count complaint in federal court alleging that defendants terminated her because she filed a complaint and succeeded in front of the NJ Division of Labor and Workforce Development.  Defendants moved to dismiss her complaint because she did not assert rights under the FLSA at the DLWD.

The court rejected defendant’s argument.  The court noted that the 29 U.S.C. 215(a)(3) makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge an employee who has filed a complaint related to the FLSA.  The court pointed out that the language of the FLSA does not limit the anti-retaliation provision to complaints that expressly evoke the statute, and that filing an action with a state body fell within the Act’s protections.