WCA2011.jpgSeyfarth Shaw’s 2011 Workplace Class Action Report is coming soon! The report is the sole compendium in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to workplace class action litigation. Our loyal readers can expect to receive their copy in several weeks, with rulings and case law developments reviewed and analyzed through December 31, 2010.

To say the least, 2010 was a significant year for workplace class action litigation. We will address these developments in detail in the upcoming Report, and this post provides a preview.

 

Key developments over the past year manifest multiple trends that impact employers.

First, 2010 was the year of big headlines in employment discrimination class actions.  Those headlines involved the biggest class action trial verdict ever – the $250 million verdict in Velez, et al. v. Novartis in May of 2010 – and its subsequent settlement two months later for $175 million.  As success by the plaintiffs’ bar often prompts copy-cat litigation filings, these headlines are likely to encourage more class actions in the future, as well as enhanced settlement demands by the plaintiffs’ bar to resolve their cases.

SupremeCourt.jpgSecond, 2010 also spawned landmark Rule 23 decisions; none was more momentous than the ruling by the Ninth Circuit in Dukes, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on April 26, 2010, and the subsequent grant of certiorari in the case by the U.S. Supreme Court on December 6, 2010.  In a 6 to 5 en banc opinion, the Ninth Circuit upheld, in part, certification of the largest employment discrimination class action ever – a pay and promotions class of approximately 1.5 million female workers.  The Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari put the Ninth Circuit’s decision in flux and other decisions on hold, while the class action bar awaits the next chapter in the litigation.  The Supreme Court’s expected ruling in Dukes in 2011 is apt to be a bellwether decision in areas that the Supreme Court has left mostly to federal circuit courts of appeals in recent years. 

Third, the continued economic challenges and low hiring rates during 2010 fueled more class action and collective action litigation.  Most significantly, the plaintiffs’ bar increased the pace of FLSA collective action filings seeking recovery for unpaid overtime wages.   These conditions spawned more employment-related case filings, both by laid-off workers and government enforcement attorneys.  In turn, this resulted in higher settlement numbers (especially in government-initiated lawsuits and wage & hour litigation).  Even more class action litigation is expected in 2011, as businesses continue to re-tool their operations.

Map.jpgFourth, by sheer numbers, wage & hour litigation continued to far out-pace all other types of workplace class actions.  This trend was also manifest in more wage & hour class action and collective action decisions by federal and state court judges than any other area of workplace litigation.  It also reflected the fact that in terms of case filings, collective actions pursued in federal court under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) outnumbered all other types of private class actions in employment-related cases.  As a result, FLSA collective actions produced more rulings in 2010 than class actions for employment discrimination or under ERISA.  Significant growth in wage & hour litigation also was centered at the state court level, and especially in California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington. This trend is likely to continue in 2011.

Fifth, as Democratic legislative initiatives for labor and employment reform stalled, in the wake of Republican Congressional gains, the Obama Administration continued to ramp up its enforcement efforts through the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”).  The Obama Administration’s emphasis on administrative regulation and enforcement lead to more government-initiated litigation over workplace issues.  Those efforts are expected to intensify as the Administration’s policy goals, which may be thwarted in the Congress, are advanced through agency regulation and government enforcement litigation.  Many state labor departments are following this lead. Increased funding for the DOL and the EEOC also resulted in the recruitment and training of more DOL and EEOC attorneys and investigators.  It is expected that employers will encounter more investigations – and more governmental enforcement lawsuits – in 2011 as the augmented staffs of the DOL and EEOC carry out their law enforcement functions.  Likewise, when measured by monetary recoveries, government enforcement litigation resulted in higher settlement amounts for workplace litigation than past years.  Even more aggressive government enforcement litigation is likely in the coming year.

scalesofjustice.jpgSixth, the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (“CAFA”) continued to have significant effects on workplace litigation, and most significantly on wage & hour class actions filed in state court.  The past twelve months saw evolving case law developments on jurisdictional issues under the CAFA.  As the plaintiffs’ bar continues to devise techniques to adapt to the CAFA, rulings on the scope, meaning, and application of this law, of relatively recent vintage, have occurred at a surprising rate.  In this respect, the development of CAFA-related law continued to mature quickly in the Ninth Circuit, as the high volume of California-based wage & hour class action filings resulted in a deluge of CAFA removals in California federal courts in 2010.

Seventh, and finally, the financial stakes in workplace class action litigation increased in 2010.  Plaintiffs’ lawyers have continued to push the envelope in crafting damages theories to expand the size of classes and the scope of recoveries.  These strategies resulted in a series of massive settlements in nationwide class actions, particularly in the context of wage & hour litigation.  This trend is also unlikely to abate in 2011.