By Christopher M. Cascino and Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.
Seyfarth Synopsis: In Ellis v. Google, Inc., No. CGC-17-561299 (Cal Sup. Ct. Dec. 4, 2017), Judge Mary Wiss of the Superior Court of California granted a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit brought by Google employees who claimed that all female Google employees
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Alex W. Karasik
Seyfarth Synopsis: Four African-American teachers alleged that their school district employer discriminated against them on the basis of race by failing to hire them as assistant principals, and filed a motion for class certification. A federal district court in Florida denied the teachers’ motion for class
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Alex W. Karasik
Seyfarth Synopsis: Following an employer’s reduction-in-force that ultimately led to an ADEA collective action after several employees over 50 years old were terminated, a federal district court in Florida recently granted a motion to conditionally certify a collective action of employees who worked at the
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Thomas E. Ahlering
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent decision has added to the chorus of courts recognizing that FMLA class actions must be pursued under Rule 23 and are often appropriate for class certification. As a practical matter, this means that FMLA class actions can now be pursued
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Thomas E. Ahlering, and Alex W. Karasik
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a class action alleging that the criminal background policy of Washington D.C.’s local transit authority had a disparate impact on African-Americans, a federal district court recently certified three classes of African-American employees and applicants despite the employer’s
Surveys of corporate counsel confirm that complex workplace litigation – and especially class actions and multi-plaintiff lawsuits – are one of the chief exposures driving corporate legal budgetary expenditures, as well as the type of legal dispute that causes the most concern for their companies.
As profiled in our Workplace Class Action Report for
In the third post of our series on workplace class action issues, this blog posting focuses on the statistical study of class certification rulings throughout the Unites States in 2016. Not unlike real estate, location – in terms of venue, the assigned judge, and applicable circuit case law – is an all-important factor in class
Seyfarth Synopsis: After certifying a class of Haitian blueberry pickers who asserted Title VII discrimination claims, Judge James Moody of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a sua sponte order decertifying the class because it had become apparent to the Court that the class members’ claims for compensatory damages
Seyfarth Synopsis: African American pipefitters filed a class action against their labor union based on its allegedly discriminatory system for referring jobs to union members. Despite the fact that third-party employers retained sole discretion in deciding whether to hire a union referral, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois found that such
By Laura Maechtlen and Julie G. Yap
In Rollins v. Traylor Brothers, Case No. 14-CV-1414 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 21, 2016), Judge John Coughenour of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington certified the claims of a class of workers alleging claims of discrimination under both disparate impact and disparate treatment liability