Avoiding and Defending Wage and Hour Class Actions
Regardless of industry, employers are targets for wage and hour lawsuits. The larger the workforce, the larger the lawsuit in many instances.
Over the past two decades, the plaintiffs’ bar has grown increasingly aggressive in bringing large wage and hour class, collective, and representative actions.
The national Wage and Hour practice group at Epstein Becker Green guides employers through every stage of these cases, helping them identify the risks, develop creative strategies, examine the business ramifications, and take steps to defeat class certification, strike representative status, or obtain a dismissal of claims.
Experience matters in these cases. We have that experience.
Employers sued under federal, state, or local wage and hour laws rely on Epstein Becker Green to defend them because of our experience and success in this area. Our team includes members who served in senior leadership and legal roles at the U.S. Department of Labor and who have defended employers in cases that helped shape wage and hour laws—bringing a distinct perspective to wage and hour issues that benefit our clients.
Our decades of wage and hour litigation experience includes handling hundreds of Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions and state law wage and hour law class and representative actions, with classes ranging from a dozen employees to hundreds of thousands of employees. These cases have included claims for:
- Exempt misclassification
- Independent contractor misclassification
- Off-the-clock work
- Regular and overtime pay miscalculations
- Tip-pooling violations
- Missed meal and rest periods
- Expense reimbursement
- Nonpayment for donning and doffing time and pre- and post-shift activities
We’re on your team.
We work side by side with our clients, whether it is advising them in efforts to avoid government investigations and class action litigation or assisting our clients once an investigation or litigation has commenced. We are committed to providing our clients with the high-quality service they deserve—and that they have come to expect.
We do not position client service as an added value—it is simply integrated into our practice. And when litigation cannot be avoided, we not only aggressively defend any wage and hour law issue, but we also have the know-how to provide a client with a candid assessment of its case and to negotiate a favorable settlement when it is in the client’s best interests to do so.