Give Me a Sign, Send Me Notice One More Time: The District Courts and the FLSA Notice Standard

On May 19, 2023, in Clark v. A&L Homecare and Training Center, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that plaintiffs seeking to add other employees to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) suits must demonstrate a “strong likelihood” that such employees are “similarly situated” before district courts facilitate notice informing them of their right to opt in. In articulating this new standard, the Sixth Circuit declined to adopt the lenient approach endorsed by a majority of courts or the strict approach endorsed by the Fifth Circuit, opting instead to land somewhere in between. This Comment argues that the Sixth Circuit erred by improperly analogizing distinct mechanisms of law at the expense of the FLSA’s purpose.