A warehouse worker must rework his bid to certify a class against Amazon over holiday pay calculations after the Colorado Supreme Court clarified the governing overtime law, a Colorado federal judge ruled.

In an order issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer denied without prejudice worker Daniel Hamilton's motion for class certification, saying an earlier briefing on the matter is outdated following the Colorado Supreme Court's September 2024 decision clarifying how state wage regulations treat holiday incentive pay when calculating overtime.

"If Mr. Hamilton chooses to refile the motion, the parties should address whether the Colorado Supreme Court's holding has resolved issues of liability regarding Amazon and, if so, whether class certification is still appropriate," Judge Brimmer said.

In its ruling, the high court held that while Colorado Rule 1.8 does allow employers to exclude nonworked hours from employees' regular rate of pay for the purposes of overtime math, Amazon's incentive pay was triggered for hours worked and cannot stay out of the overtime calculations.

Under Rule 1.8, workers' "regular rate includes all compensation paid to [them] including set hourly rates, shift differentials, minimum wage tip credits, non-discretionary bonuses, production bonuses, and commissions used for calculating hourly overtime rates for non-exempt employees."

Hamilton argued in his April 2022 bid for class certification that the key common issue was whether Colorado law requires holiday premium pay to be included in overtime calculations.

But Judge Brimmer said that because the Colorado Supreme Court has now answered that question in the affirmative, the issue is whether that ruling effectively resolves liability and, if so, whether any other common question remains.

The court added that even if a common question persists, the parties must brief whether it predominates over individualized issues, including damages.

Amazon did not oppose class treatment itself, taking issue only with the scope of the class and certain aspects of the proposed notice, according to the order.

David H. Miller of The Wilhite & Miller Law Firm, who represents the warehouse workers, told Law360 on Monday that the judge made clear the class-certification motion must be updated to reflect the plaintiffs' success in the Colorado Supreme Court and address other issues he noted, given the motion was filed years before that unanimous ruling confirmed the legality of the claims.

"So, that is what we will be doing in short order — updating the motion confirming that it should be granted, the class certified, and the class members (now numbering from what we understand to be over 20,000) be paid what they are owed under the Colorado Wage Act," Miller said.

Hamilton claimed in his 2022 suit that Amazon paid him holiday pay at his hourly rate on company holidays such as Labor Day, as well as holiday incentive pay, set at time and a half his regular rate of pay, if he worked during those days.

However, Hamilton claimed that Amazon left the holiday incentive pay out of his regular rate of pay when it calculated his overtime in weeks when he worked more than 40 hours.

The district court initially sided with Amazon, but on appeal the Tenth Circuit asked the Colorado Supreme Court to clarify the state law, and the case returned to district court after the justices held the pay must be included. The court set a March 20 deadline for Hamilton to refile his bid.

Representatives of Amazon declined to comment Monday.

Hamilton is represented by David H. Miller of The Wilhite Law Firm.

Amazon is represented by Jennifer S. Harpole and Sarah K. Watt of Littler Mendelson PC.

The case is Hamilton v. Amazon.com Services LLC, case number 1:22-cv-00434, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.