Wage and Hour Collective and Class Claims: The Continuing Litigation Threat

Description

Wage and hour class and collective actions have exploded over the past few years, exposing employers to expensive and time consuming litigation. This trend continued through 2009 and is not expected to abate through 2010.

The 10 largest class action wage and hour settlements in 2008 totaled $252 million. In late 2009, Wal-Mart received court approval to pay between $65 and $85 million to resolve 39 consolidated wage and hour class actions involving more than three million employees—the largest class ever.

The surge in litigation alleging Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state law violations requires employers to develop innovative defenses against the suits. Counsel for employers and employees must also craft effective settlement strategies to minimize the time and expense of litigation.

Listen as our panel of employment law attorneys—both plaintiff and defense—provides effective strategies for pursuing and defending against FLSA and state law claims and best practices for reaching settlements.

Outline

1. Plaintiffs’ strategies for obtaining class certification and prevailing at trial
   1. FLSA action or state law class action?
   2. Burden of proof
2. Defense strategies for defeating class certification and prevailing at trial
   1. Defeating class certification
   2. Decertification
   3. Arbitration clauses
   4. Good faith defenses
   5. Removal of state court cases to federal court
   6. Affirmative defenses specific to wage and hour litigation
   7. Effective defense of Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6) depositions
   8. Summary judgment
3. Discovery strategies — for plaintiffs and defendants
   1. Personnel files and other confidential information
   2. Use of sampling techniques
4. Settlement strategies — for plaintiffs and defendants
   1. Mediation
   2. Court supervised settlements
   3. DOL supervised settlements

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

• What strategies have been successful for plaintiff's attorneys for overcoming class certification challenges when pursuing wage and hour class actions?
• How are defense attorneys responding to the recent surge in FLSA and state law collective and class claims?
• What are the most efficient discovery strategies for counsel for employers and employees in wage and hour litigation?
• What are the key considerations for counsel when structuring a settlement to meet clients' best interests and obtain court approval?

Webinar/Teleconference

Strafford webinars/teleconferences offer several options for participation: online viewing of speaker-controlled PowerPoint presentations with audio via computer speakers or via phone; or audio only via telephone (download speaker handouts prior to the program).  Please note that our webinars do not feature videos of the presenters.

CLE Credit

Strafford's live seminars qualify for CLE in every state that accredits webinars. They offer you a high quality, cost effective, and convenient CLE option, with no lost travel time or expenses.

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