The Seventh Circuit's new standard for certifying collective actions, introduced a year ago in an age discrimination case against pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, has turned out to be less onerous than certification standards recently established by other circuits and hasn't significantly impacted notice distribution, wage and hour attorneys say.

Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., the chair of Duane Morris LLP's Class Action Defense Group and an editor of the firm's annual class action review, said the Seventh Circuit's decision overall has not affected the success rate for certification motions that plaintiffs have asked courts within the circuit to approve.

District courts within the circuit have approved seven out of seven motions in wage and hour cases, a result that is "telling," Maatman said.

Maatman said that such a result is particularly significant because the mix of the other certification standards showed a decrease in the nationwide success rate for certification motions in 2026 so far.

"So those data analytics tell me that the Seventh Circuit has become a little more user-friendly for plaintiffs" because they need to only show a material fact on the similarly situated status issue, as opposed to a factual showing, Maatman said.

Maatman said that the Seventh Circuit's decision has changed how a defendant approaches a motion for certification because discovery develops faster than before.

"You'd never have time to get an expert involved in trying to oppose conditional certification," Maatman said. "So, it has changed the defense approach in that there is more you can do, and there's more of an evidentiary record that you can build."

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