Court allows sales representatives in Wyndham’s Wisconsin Dells location to pursue off the clock claims collectively

The attorneys at Hawks Quindel and Nichols Kaster announce a significant development in an unpaid wage class action brought on behalf of sales representatives employed by Wyndham Vacation Resorts (Wyndham), after a federal district court in Madison granted the plaintiffs' request for conditional class status. The case was initially filed in June 2013 by two former sales representatives who had worked for the Orlando, Florida-based company at its location in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin — the Waterpark Capital of the World — as In-House Sales Representatives and Discovery Sales Representatives. The two employees alleged that Wyndham violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Wisconsin law by requiring them to work "off the clock" without minimum wage and overtime pay. In his July 25, 2014 Order, Judge William M. Conley held that the plaintiffs had produced sufficient evidence at this stage of the litigation to suggest that Wyndham maintained a common policy requiring sales representatives in the In-House and Discovery positions to perform off the clock work, making the case appropriate for collective action treatment. The Court also ordered the plaintiffs to mail a notice of the lawsuit to all In-House and Discovery sales representatives who worked for Wyndham in the Wisconsin Dells between July 25, 2011 and July 25, 2014, giving them the opportunity to learn about the case and to join. The Court also ordered Wyndham to post the notice in its Wisconsin Dells location. The case is titled Bitner, et al. v. Wyndham Vacation Resorts, Inc., No. 3:13-cv-00451-wmc (W.D. Wis.). The Plaintiffs are represented by William E. Parsons, David C. Zoeller and Caitlin M. Madden of Hawks Quindel, S.C. in Madison, Wisconsin, and Paul J. Lukas, Tim C. Selander, and G. Tony Atwal of Nichols Kaster, PLLP, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hawks Quindel has offices in Milwaukee and Madison and represents workers in Wisconsin and across the nation. Nichols Kaster, with more than thirty lawyers in offices in Minneapolis and San Francisco, represents employees and consumers in individual, class, and collective action lawsuits throughout the country.