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Class Action Certified for Wage Claim Under State Law

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
August 27, 2003

A class action brought on behalf of 15,000 present and former members of Bloomingdale's commissioned sales force was certified under New York Labor Law '193 based on a claim that Bloomingdale's inappropriately made deductions from the commissions credited to the sales force for merchandise returned by customers. Jacobs v. Bloomingdale's, Inc. Index No. 17283/96 (Sup. Ct. Queens Co. 5/03) (Taylor, J.S.C.)

The class representatives were sales staff members at various Bloomingdale's, May Department Stores, Macy's, and Abraham & Strauss locations. Plaintiffs acknowledged that the stores were entitled to deduct for unreturned items that they sold. The plaintiffs objected, however, to the practice of making deductions from credited commissions for 'unidentified returns,' that is, returned merchandise for which the store could not identify the salesperson involved in the transaction. The defendant stores deducted a pro rata share of the unidentified returns from all the commissions which were paid to all sales personnel in the department from which the product was sold.

The complaint in the case sought contract damages for unpaid wages, and raised a claim under Labor Law '193 for unlawful deductions from wages. Plaintiffs moved for an order pursuant to CPLR 901 and 902 for class action certification. The court granted certification for a class 'comprised of all past or present commission sales employees of the defendants in New York State whose commission wages had been reduced and/or affected because of unidentified returns.'

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