2013CAR_small.jpgBy Lorie Almon, Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., and Ian Morrison

Back by popular demand, our Annual Workplace Class Action Report Webinar is less than 24 hours away – on Wednesday, February 27, 2013. We still have spaces available for the webinar – click here to register and attend.

The past twelve months represented a landmark year for complex employment-related disputes and portends an array of developing trends for employers to monitor in 2013, led by a dramatic “halo effect” from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011).

Our readers have given us wide-ranging feedback over the last three weeks since the launch of the 9th Annual Report in the second week of January. Over 5,500 copies of the report have been requested  – and mailed out to – clients and the readers of our blog, and over 450 media mentions have cited to the Report on workplace class action trends (a few are included here and here).

Based on the trends identified in our 9th Annual Workplace Class Action Report, partners Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., the Report’s author, and Lorie Almon and Ian Morrison, the chairs of our wage & hour and ERISA practice groups, we will lead attendees through a changed national landscape of “bet the company” employment disputes fueled by an aggressive plaintiffs’ bar and invigorated federal and state enforcement regimes. We will also provide insights on the new parameters for Rule 23 standards and workplace class arbitration defenses created by Wal-Mart and AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, and how employers can continue to prepare themselves for litigation in light of those decisions. Some of the trends we will discuss include:

•  The impact of the Supreme Court’s opinions in Wal-Mart and Concepcion and the creative case law theories that will continue to evolve and impact employers in the defense of their cases in 2013.

•  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s focus on systemic lawsuits and how government enforcement activity is expected to accelerate even more in 2013.

•  The influence of Wal-Mart on settlement strategies for workplace class actions and how the plaintiffs’ class action bar is “re-booting” its approach to class-based litigation.

•  How the sluggish U.S. economy during 2012 fueled more class action and collective class action litigation and how this trend will continue in 2013.

•  Why wage & hour litigation continued to outpace all other types of workplace class actions in 2012 and is expected to grow again in 2013.

•  How the plaintiffs’ class action bar has moved to respond to Wal-Mart and craft new approaches to class-wide theories of certification, liability, and damages related to the Rule 23 developments.

The date and time of the webinar is Wednesday, February 27, 2013:

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Central Time
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain Time
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time

Speakers: Lorie Almon, Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., and Ian Morrison

We hope to see you there!