Labor and Employment Class Actions
Class Action Litigation
Our Labor & Employment attorneys have extensive experience defending clients in class actions in state and federal courts across the United States. W e represent clients in a range of industries, including telecommunication, transportation, marketing, energy, banking, catering, automotive, and retail.
In addition to defending class actions at the trial court level, we also have extensive experience at the appellate level, addressing issues from class certification to the standards for removal under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), to collateral attacks on class action settlements.
Our litigators also deliver both experience and innovation in connection with class action settlements . We take into account both legal and business considerations in crafting resolutions that meet our clients' goals.
Wage-and-Hour Class Action Representative Experience
In light of automatic attorneys' fees for successful plaintiffs, employees who are increasingly sophisticated about their wage-and-hour rights, and the complex field of federal and state laws and regulations in this area, the explosion of wage-and-hour litigation continues. It takes only a single disgruntled employee or former employee to mount an aggressive class action attack against a his or her employer or former employer. As a result, our Employment lawyers frequently defend companies in connection with large-scale class actions covering the full gamut of state and federal issues relating to payment of wages and classification of employees and independent contractors. Their focus is defeating class certification of these actions and positioning the cases for dismissal at summary judgment, favorable settlement, or victory at trial.
Our litigators also regularly advise clients on their compliance with wage-and-hour laws and perform compliance audits in advance of litigation or governmental investigations with the goal of helping clients minimize exposure to the court system.
Meal and Rest Break Class Actions: Our lawyers have represented numerous companies in the defense of class actions alleging failure to provide meal and rest breaks, and associated penalties, in accordance with California law.
Off-The-Clock and Overtime Class Actions: Our firm represents many employers embroiled in class action litigation involving alleged failure to pay employees minimum wages and overtime for work performed "off-the-clock," including for time spent traveling, working from home, on the road using company-issued mobile devices, and on-call.
Employment/Independent Contractor Misclassification Class Actions: Our litigators have defended various companies accused of misclassifying employees as independent contractors in order to allegedly evade state and federal wage-and-hour laws.
Exempt Employee Misclassification Class Actions: Our firm has significant experience litigating actions involving the alleged misclassification of employees as exempt from overtime and breaks.
Final Pay Class Actions: Our lawyers have represented many clients in connection with the alleged failure to pay final wages in a timely manner in violation of California Labor Code section 203. Our attorneys are proud of the extremely favorable settlements they have garnered during their careers on behalf of clients.
Miscellaneous Wage-and-Hour Class Actions: Our California wage-and-hour lawyers have significant experience confronting plaintiffs' firms that comb the California Labor Code in search of novel claims against employers including cases involving prohibited questions on employment applications, vacation accrual claims, out-of-state bank address claims, improper rounding, commissions claims, failure to provide and maintain uniforms, and the like.
Other Employment Class Action Representative Experience
Our firm has represented corporations, large and small, in handling class claims alleging employment discrimination. This practice includes counseling clients prior to litigation and conducting privileged EEO audits to identify whether statistically significant disparities exist for protected groups in the areas of compensation, promotions and performance evaluations.