Beltran v. Interexchange
Jan 01, 2019OUTCOME: Settlement
91,000-member au pair class action alleging wage-suppression scheme certified By Ronald Miller, J.D. Au pairs were granted certification of a Rule 23 class action alleging that multiple sponsor age ... ncies engaged in an illegal agreement to suppress wages and inflate their own fees, in violation of federal and state wage laws. According to the plaintiffs, the agencies maintained a uniform policy and had a “collective agreement” to “artificially suppress au pair wages at an unlawfully low level.” A federal district court in Colorado was satisfied that the au pairs’ proposed classes satisfied the prerequisites of Rule 23(a), with the exception of one proposed nationwide state-law claim class. Further, agreeing with the plaintiffs that the agencies’ alleged agreement to suppress wages was the “foundational liability issue” in the antitrust claim, the court found that the common issue predominated over any individual issues (Beltran v. InterExchange, Inc., February 2, 2018, Arguello, C.).
