29 U.S.C. § 256 — Determination of commencement of future actions

For an action commenced on or after May 14, 1947 under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Walsh-Healey Act, or the Bacon-Davis Act, the action is generally considered to start on the date the complaint is filed. But for a collective or class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act or the Bacon-Davis Act, each individual claimant's case starts on a different date: (a) if the claimant is specifically named as a party plaintiff in the complaint, and their written consent to join as a plaintiff is filed the same day in the court where the case is brought — the case starts on the date the complaint is filed; (b) if that written consent was not filed then, or the claimant's name was not in the complaint — the case starts on the later date when the claimant's written consent is actually filed in that court.