By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Jennifer Riley, and Sarah Bauman

Seyfarth Synopsis: On August 8, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification for a class of applicants who sought employment with the Cook County Department of Corrections.  The Plaintiffs argued that certain hiring examinations disparately impacted African-Americans, and
Continue Reading Illinois Federal Court Grants Class Certification To Cook County Department Of Corrections Applicants Based On Allegedly Discriminatory Entrance Exams

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Alex W. Karasik

Seyfarth SynopsisIn Savage, et al. v. The City of Springfield, Case No. 3:18-CV-30614, 2022 LEXIS 124587 (D. Mass. July 14, 2022), a federal court in Massachusetts recently denied Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, holding that (1) Plaintiffs failed to establish that a putative class of Black and Hispanic
Continue Reading Federal Court Extinguishes Firefighters’ Class Action Claims In Race Discrimination Lawsuit

In our continuing video blog series analyzing the findings in our Workplace Class Action Report, trend #2 focuses on the success factor of the plaintiffs’ bar for class certification rulings in 2021. In the video, Jerry Maatman discusses how wage & hour litigation remained the sweet spot for the plaintiffs’ class action bar in 2021 and what this means for

Continue Reading 5 Top Trends In Workplace Class Action Litigation: Trend #2 Class Certification Trends Video

Seyfarth Synopsis: In our continuing coverage of the top trends found in Seyfarth’s 2022 Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, wage & hour litigation remained the sweet spot for the plaintiffs’ class action bar over the past year. Based on sheer volume and statistical numbers, workers certified more class and collective actions in the wage & hour space in 2021 as
Continue Reading 5 Top Trends In Workplace Class Action Litigation: Trend #2 Class Certification Trends

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Alex S. Oxyer, and Lisa L. Savadjian

Seyfarth Synopsis: In Richardson v. City of New York, No. 17 Civ. 9447, 2021 WL 1910689 (S.D.N.Y. May 12, 2021), a putative class of Plaintiffs alleged that the Fire Department of New York was discriminatory in its hiring, promotion, and compensation decisions relative to its
Continue Reading New York Federal Court Denies Class Certification To Employees Of The Fire Department Of New York

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Alex W. Karasik

Seyfarth Synopsis:  In Handloser v. HCL Technologies LTD, No. 19-CV-1242, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45183 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 9, 2021), Plaintiffs alleged that an Indian-based company with its U.S. headquarters in California gave preferential hiring treatment to foreign visa-holders over U.S. citizens.  Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Wal-Mart
Continue Reading California Court Denies Class Certification In Reverse Discrimination Case Brought By Job Candidates

By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.

Seyfarth Synopsis: In our continuing coverage of the top trends found in Seyfarth’s 2021 Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, wage & hour litigation remained the sweet spot for the plaintiffs’ class action bar over the past year. Based on sheer volume and statistical numbers, workers certified more class and collective actions in the wage &
Continue Reading 5 Top Trends In Workplace Class Action Litigation: Trend #5 Class Certification Trends

 By Gerald L. Maatman and Michael L. DeMarino

Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338 (2011), still lords over employment discrimination class actions nearly a decade later. Indeed, Nelson, et al. v. Pace Suburban Bus, et al., No. 17 C 7697, 2020 WL 6565241, at *1 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 9,
Continue Reading Class Certification Denied In Bus Company Discrimination Suit

By Jennifer A. Riley, Christina M. Janice, and Alex Oxyer

Seyfarth Synopsis: On July 14, 2020, Judge James Donato of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California became the latest to deny appointment of class counsel in a class action based on lack of diversity, including lack of diversity in gender (all male) and experience
Continue Reading Another Federal Court Suggests That, To Meet Adequacy Requirements, Class Counsel Should Reflect The Diversity Of The Putative Class

By: Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Michael L. DeMarino, and Andrew Welker

Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 30, 2020, the California Superior Court granted class certification against Oracle America Inc., allowing former employees to represent a class of over 4,100 women for claims of alleged discrimination in violation of California’s Equal Pay Act.  Following the Superior Court’s class certification
Continue Reading California Court Of Appeal Denies Oracle’s Petition For A Writ Of Mandate Or A Writ Of Prohibition To Reverse Class Certification Order