The Seventh Circuit held that while the defendant had offered evidence establishing that it paid overtime at every branch bank in the putative class and had policy of paying overtime, that evidence did not negate the evidence in the record that the defendant had denied compensation for overtime work on number of occasions and had granted overtime only following employee complaints. As such, the District Court could properly certify question as to whether defendant had informal policy requiring its employees to work off clock, where the plaintiff offered evidence that denial of overtime pay came from broad company policy, as opposed from individual low-level branch managers.
The Seventh Circuit emphasized that the District Court need not resolve merits of the certified question prior to granting a motion for certification, and fact that the class members might require individualized relief did not preclude certification of class.