Wire
GKN workers lose bid to revive unpaid overtime claims after settlement
The Fourth Circuit said James Mebane gave up his personal stake when he settled his own claims, so he could not keep pressing the challenge to class decertification. The court did not decide whether GKN’s pay practices violated federal or North Carolina wage law.
Workers at GKN Driveline North America lost the chance to keep a wage case alive in the Fourth Circuit, which on June 2, 2026, dismissed James Mebane’s appeal from a Middle District of North Carolina ruling. The suit said GKN’s time-rounding and automatic meal-break deductions left employees short on overtime pay and wages.
Mebane and Angela Worsham sued on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, and the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act, or NCWHA. At one point, the district court had certified two classes and conditionally certified an FLSA collective action.
The settlement that cut off the fight
The judges said Mebane settled his individual claims before he filed the notice of appeal. Once he gave up the underlying wage dispute, they said, he no longer had the live personal stake needed to challenge the decertification order.
The court said a plaintiff can sometimes keep fighting over class representation even after losing the personal claim, but not after voluntarily settling away the case itself. A settlement clause reserving the right to appeal did not change that result.
No ruling on the pay practices
Because the appeal was dismissed, the court did not reach whether GKN’s pay practices violated federal or North Carolina wage law. The decision leaves workers without this appellate route to recover alleged back pay through a class case.