Litigating Wage and Hour Class Actions: Certification and Decertification
Continuing Lessons From Dukes, Comcast, and Duran to Evaluate Evidence on Liability and Damages
Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A
This CLE course will help employment counsel to understand the processes and procedures established by Dukes, Comcast, and their progeny to successfully address the certification of wage and hour class actions, including strategies for arguing for or against commonality and predominance among the putative class.
Outline
- Review and synthesis of Dukes, Comcast, Duran, Tyson, and their progeny
- Evaluating plaintiffs' liability and damages evidence supporting certification
- Assessing statistical sampling evidence offered to support liability
- Potential impact of distinctions among class members that impact both liability and damages
- Monitoring case manageability for opportunities to seek decertification
Benefits
The panel will review these and other noteworthy issues:
- What are the highest priority merits issues for defendants at the certification stage?
- What evidence will refute an allegation of a standard policy or practice that violates wage and hour laws?
- How can defense counsel make the most of expert witness testimony at certification?
Faculty
Ashley N. Harrison
Partner
Shook Hardy & Bacon
Ms. Harrison’s practice focuses on representing businesses nationally in commercial disputes and employment... | Read More
Ms. Harrison’s practice focuses on representing businesses nationally in commercial disputes and employment matters. She has worked extensively on wage-and-hour class and collective actions in a variety of industries. Ms. Harrison has also presented and written on a variety of wage-and-hour-related matters, including on the topics of defense strategy for wage-and-hour class litigation and the use of statistical evidence in wage-and-hour cases.
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William C. Martucci
Partner; Chair, National Employment Litigation & Policy Practice Group
Shook Hardy & Bacon
Mr. Martucci practices nationally in business and employment litigation, with a focus on complex class action... | Read More
Mr. Martucci practices nationally in business and employment litigation, with a focus on complex class action (employment discrimination and wage-and-hour, including California) litigation, as well as high-stakes executive disputes, whistleblower matters, and unfair competition. Working as part of a trial team, presenting and winning cases on behalf of companies before juries, and advising corporate clients concerning effective business and human resources practices are the primary activities in which Mr. Martucci engages. He has successfully tried a number of jury cases and has effectively resolved a variety of class action cases. His litigation docket is national in scope with cases throughout the U.S. His primary practice areas focus on complex class action (employment discrimination and wage & hour) litigation, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission litigation, unfair competition litigation, and business litigation. In the traditional labor relations field, Mr. Martucci has been involved in a number of NLRB representations, as well as serving as strategic labor relations counsel for national companies.
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Christine E. Webber
Partner; Co-Chair the Civil Rights & Employment Practice Group
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
Ms. Webber represents victims of discrimination and wage and hour violations in class and collective actions. She... | Read More
Ms. Webber represents victims of discrimination and wage and hour violations in class and collective actions. She has had the honor of representing clients in some of the largest, groundbreaking discrimination and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class and collective actions in the United States, including Keepseagle v. Vilsack (D.D.C.), a historic nationwide race-based discrimination class action brought by Native American ranchers and farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The landmark $760 million settlement required the USDA to pay $680 million in damages to thousands of Native Americans, to forgive up to $80 million in outstanding farm loan debt and to improve the farm loan services the USDA provides to Native Americans. Ms. Webber was lead counsel in In re Tyson Foods FLSA MDL (M.D. Ga.), a collective action involving FLSA claims at over 40 Tyson chicken processing plants, which ultimately resolved the claims of 17,000 chicken processing workers who had been denied compensation for donning and doffing required safety and sanitary equipment; and Hnot v. Willis Group Insurance (S.D.N.Y.), where she represented a class of women vice presidents in Willis’ Northeast region, who complained of discrimination with respect to their salary and bonuses, as well as promotions. This “glass ceiling” case settled for an average payment of $50,000 per woman, a record-breaking settlement in 2007 for a sex discrimination class action. Ms. Webber continues the fight in Dukes v. Wal-Mart – a nationwide pay and promotion sex discrimination class action that went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011 and addressed standards for class certification in employment discrimination matters.
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