Jerry Maatman Published in National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition "Buyers Brace For EPL Class-Action Boom; Litigation landscape 'not entirely dismal' as location makes all the difference"
05/10/2007
The April 30, 2007 issue of National Underwriter Property & Casualty includes an article by Jerry entitled "Buyers Brace For EPL Class-Action Boom; Litigation landscape 'not entirely dismal' as location makes all the difference" in which he notes: "The last few years have seen an explosion in class-action and collective litigation over workplace issues, a trend that is certain to continue in 2007. The exposures from such mega-cases are keeping corporate counsels, risk managers and senior executives awake at night. But while reports of multimillion-dollar settlements of class actions are daily news fixtures, the litigation landscape is not entirely dismal for employers. As in real estate, "location, location, location" is all important, and the divergent case law in the federal courts on key class-action issues is beginning to be starkly defined by circuit location. From a strictly monetary measure, the private plaintiffs' bar secured many substantial settlements in 2006. In the context of workplace exposures, the top-10 settlements for employment discrimination, wage and hour, and Employee Retirement Income Security Act class actions totaled more than $ 1 billion. . . . The collapse of Enron and other major companies in the early part of this decade fueled a significant number of ERISA class actions that reached settlement in 2006. . . . Since wage and hour exposures are generally uninsurable, it behooves risk managers and corporate counsel to audit their payroll practices."
