Press & News
Jerry Maatman Quoted in Employment Law360
01/30/2007
Based on the availability of the Firm's Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Survey, Employment Law360 highlighted the findings in three articles on January 25:
"Class Action Settlements Reach High In 2006: Report" notes that "Class action settlements reached all-time highs in 2006, thanks to significant payments in mega-class action cases, especially in the financial services industry, according to a report published Monday by Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s employment attorneys. The firm’s Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report analyzed rulings in 407 federal and state class actions nationwide, and ranked the top 10 settlements in government- and plaintiff-initiated class actions. In the plaintiff-initiated cases, the report ranked the top ten settlements for employment discrimination class actions, ERISA class actions and wage-and-hour class actions. “The large settlements we saw in 2006 were fueled by the settlements in the financial services cases,” said Gerald Maatman, co-chair of Seyfarth Shaw LLP's complex discrimination litigation practice group and general editor of the recent report. Maatman pointed out that wage-and-hour cases started as California-based state cases, most notably in the financial services industry, and have since spread to other states including Texas, New Jersey, New York, Florida and Illinois.Maatman pointed out that all but one of the top 10 wage-and-hour settlements were reached in California cases, most often the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. “The district is very plaintiff-friendly,” Maatman said. He predicts plaintiffs’ lawyers will be filing more cases in that district in 2007. One reason for the higher settlements is the recent emergence of the nationwide “mega-class” that includes more employees and therefore demands higher payouts, according to Maatman. “Plaintiffs lawyers are bringing more nationwide claims against employers with employees in multiple states, like UPS and IBM,” Maatman said. “The size of the class is larger so the settlement is larger.” Maatman also predicted that there will be more wage-and-hour cases filed in upcoming years. “The type of class in wage-and-hour cases tends to be bigger,” Maatman said. “So settlements will be even higher in 2007.”
"Class Certifications Faced Challenges In 2006" reports "2006 was a busy year for employment litigation, but as plaintiffs’ lawyers filed more new and sophisticated class action suits, the defense bar stepped up, taking the plaintiffs’ attorneys to task and defeating more and more class certifications. Maatman said their analysis revealed that employers were very successful in getting class certifications defeated in 2006. Maatman, who is also co-chair of the firm’s complex discrimination litigation practice group, revealed that classes in employment discrimination and wage & hour cases were the most frequently decertified. CAFA offered employers’ attorneys a new strategy, Maatman said. The defense bar could now move to have class action cases brought in state courts removed to federal court, where the judge is likely to be more sophisticated and possibly more favorable to the employer’s argument. “If you’re an employer you will do better in federal court,” Maatman said. “We will see CAFA used even more in cases in 2007. If you are a class action defense lawyer you need to know CAFA inside and out to be able to best represent your clients.” Maatman pointed out that almost every district court in the country dismissed class certification claims brought in employment discrimination cases. “Federal judges are beginning to accept arguments to dismiss classes or certify smaller classes,” Maatman said. “Employers are winning these arguments.”
"Wage-And-Hour Class Actions Continue To Grow" states that "Many employment defense attorneys agree that wage-and-hour cases have taken up more and more of their time in recent years. Now, thanks to a report published by Seyfarth Shaw LLP, there is hard evidence to back up this speculation. “The volume of wage-and-hour litigation continues to increase exponentially,” the report said. These are suits brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act which can be filed in state or federal court. “FLSA collective actions pursued in federal court were reflected by more rulings on that subject in 2006 than for employment discrimination class actions,” the report said. “The most significant growth in wage-and-hour litigation, however, is at the state court level and especially in California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas.” The report also pointed out that many of the wage-and-hour cases that have been filed have been in the financial services industry. “Plaintiffs attorneys initiated lawsuits against many industry leaders on behalf of brokers and financial advisors,” the report said. “They alleged that while brokers and financial advisors are paid commission and fees earned toward their employer over the course of the year, they also received draws or monthly advances against commissions; further, because the draws do not qualify as a guaranteed salary and the employees act as salespeople, plaintiffs argued that they are not covered under the FLSA administrative exemption for overtime because the brokers and financial advisors were not paid on a salary basis.” The report noted that some financial services companies decided to resolve those lawsuits in 2006. This is reflected in the report’s listing of top settlements for wage-and-hour class actions in 2006: Four of the top 10 settlements were paid out by financial services companies. Maatman was quick to point out that this trend is not going away anytime soon. “Many big companies in big industries like financial services are still being sued,” Maatman said. “We’re going to see this more and more in 2007.”