The Wisconsin Department of Corrections Madison offices. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state’s correctional officers can sue the Department of Corrections as a class in an effort to get compensation for the time it takes the officers to be screened by security when coming to and leaving from work.
In 2020, an officer filed a class action lawsuit against DOC arguing that the pre and post shift activities should be compensated. A Milwaukee County judge divided the case into two parts, separating the certification of correctional officers as a class from the evaluation of their argument on the merits.
The circuit court judge granted the motion for class certification but that decision was reversed by the court of appeals, which ruled that the officers couldn’t be certified as a class because their argument was unlikely to be successful.
In a majority opinion written by Justice Janet Protasiewicz, the Court reversed the appeals court’s decision, stating that to certify a class action lawsuit a judge must determine if the group at issue has a common question without evaluating the answer to that question.
“There is a difference between identifying whether a common question exists and deciding its answer,” Protasiewicz wrote. “A court ‘must walk a balance between evaluating evidence to determine whether a common question exists and predominates, without weighing that evidence to determine whether the plaintiff class will ultimately prevail on the merits.’”
Protasiewicz’s opinion was joined by Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet, Brian Hagedorn and Jill Karofsky. Chief Justice Annette Ziegler wrote a partial concurrence, which was joined by Justice Rebecca Bradley.
The attorney for the DOC officers who brought the case said in a statement that his clients appreciate the Court’s decision.
“Our clients appreciate the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s well-reasoned decision reversing the Court of Appeals and reinstating the Circuit Court’s decision to certify a class of Wisconsin corrections officers,” the attorney, Michael Flannery, said in the statement. “Corrections officers are the largest officer force in the State of Wisconsin, and do a vital and incredibly difficult job. It is simply unfair that, for years, Wisconsin has forced them to do unpaid work before and after their shifts. We look forward to litigating this case through trial and getting some of Wisconsin’s hardest workers the economic justice they so deserve.”
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