Labor and Employment Litigation

Overview

Secretariat Economists provides expertise at all stages of the employment litigation process, including class certification, liability analysis, and the estimation of economic damages. We assist our clients with sworn testimony, written reports and economic analyses tailored to be easily understood by any audience, including judges, juries and regulatory agencies such as the EEOC or OFCCP.  Secretariat Economists provides rigorous statistical and economic analysis of employment decisions to help assess the risk of litigation, determine the merits of alleged wrongful acts, and compute the potential economic impact of alleged violations.

Secretariat Economists’ Labor and Employment Experience and Services

Secretariat Economists’ experts in the field of labor and employment have a distinguished record of providing clients with statistical and economic assistance in litigation-related matters. We pride ourselves on providing our clients with creative solutions to complex economic problems. Secretariat Economists professionals have testified in both class action and individual cases, in arbitration hearings, and at “Teamsters Hearings.” Secretariat Economists has also prepared damages estimates for use in settlement negotiations and routinely participates in mediation proceedings.

Many labor and employment matters involve allegations of discrimination due to applicants’ or employees’ gender, race/ethnicity, age or other protected status. The specific employment practices at issue may include compensation, promotion, termination, hiring or performance assessment. Our experts use the available data to study the claims of adverse treatment or impact as well as to address issues related to class certification, such typicality or common proof of impact.

In recent years, there has been a surge in litigation related to violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as well as similar wage and hour laws at the state level. The economists at Secretariat Economists have extensive experience analyzing allegations related to off-the-clock work, misclassification of exempt status, missed meal or rest periods and miscalculation of the regular rate of pay.

Secretariat Economists professionals also estimate damages claims in employment-related litigation. Damages estimation in employment-related litigation often requires addressing topics such as the appropriate risk factor for discounting future earnings, the economically valid rate of prejudgment interest, the methodology for valuating fringes benefits, and mitigation earnings. Analysis of life expectancy and employment expectancy may also be embedded in the analysis.

Examples of Consulting Engagements include the following:

Title VII/EPA/ADEA/Discrimination

  • A major computer manufacturer was faced with allegations of Title VII violations, specifically involving discriminatory compensation and promotions. An economist at Secretariat assisted the computer manufacturer with the production of voluminous data and conducted statistical analyses of compensation, promotions and estimates of potential economic exposure.
  • In the matter of Tammy Garcia v. MAKO Surgical Corporation, a Secretariat Economists professional was retained on behalf of the plaintiff to compute economic damages relating to an alleged unlawful termination on the basis of gender.
  • In Johnny Reynolds v. State of Alabama, a Secretariat Economists professional testified at a judicial hearing regarding the relevancy of a race-based consent decree with respect to the hiring of African-American employees by state government agencies.
  • Secretariat Economists professionals have been retained to evaluate statistical disparities in hiring, promotions, training opportunities and reductions-in-force between older workers and their younger counterparts.
  • In a disparate treatment matter against an international professional services firm, a Secretariat Economists professional conducted statistical and damages analyses on behalf of the plaintiff, a high ranking employee.

Wage and Hour

  • In the Coordinated Proceedings for Sutter Health Wage and Hour Cases, a Secretariat Economists professional submitted sworn testimony regarding the applicability of plaintiffs’ analyses for purposes of class certification.  Class certification was later denied.
  • In Johnson v. Big Lots Stores, Inc., the testimony of an economist at Secretariat Economists resulted in the decertification of an FLSA collective action relating to the alleged misclassification of exempt status of store managers and assistant store managers.
  • In Selene Prado v. Warehouse Demo Services et al., class certification was awarded to plaintiffs based in part on analyses conducted by an economist at Secretariat Economists.
  • A national landscaping company retained an economist at Secretariat Economists to calculate the economic impact relating to the miscalculation of the regular rate of pay when calculating employee’s overtime. Secretariat Economists professionals’ also calculated the financial impact regarding the validity of the fluctuating work week method of paying overtime.
  • A major financial institution named in multiple collective actions involving alleged violations of California’s labor code (including pay stub violations, deductions, wait-time penalties, overtime, and meal and rest periods) retained an  economist at Secretariat Economists to prepare estimates of economic loss for use in mediation and settlement.
  • An economist at Secretariat Economists was retained for purposes of calculating potential overtime pay in a lawsuit involving the alleged misclassification of first-line field supervisors at a national telecom company.
  • Secretariat Economists professionals have been routinely engaged to provide estimates of the amount of alleged “off-the-clock” work and the associated amount of economic loss for employees working as customer service representatives, internal sales representatives, manufacturing workers and first-line supervisors, among other occupations.

Click here for information about Secretariat Economists services related to monitoring and auditing of businesses’ employment decisions for compliance with labor laws and regulations.