Seyfarth Shaw's 2009 Workplace Class Action Litigation Report Featured in Global Pensions Magazine
"ERISA Class Action Tops $17bn"

Seyfarth Shaw's 2009 Workplace Class Action Litigation Report was featured in the article, “ERISA Class Action Tops $17bn,” published January 14, 2009 in Global Pensions Magazine. The article reported on Seyfarth’s recently published report, which indicated that employment-related class action lawsuits will likely increase over the course of the year as a consequence of the recession. The article noted that the annual report showed that in 2008 the top ten settlements for Employee Retirement Income Security Act-related (ERISA) class action cases topped $17.7 billion, a dramatic increase from the $1.8 billion paid out in 2007.

Stephen Poor, Chair and Managing Partner of the firm, stated that the report was clear evidence of an emerging trend in class action litigation. He observed, “There is an explosion in class action and collective action litigation involving workplace issues. The present downturn in the economic climate is likely to fuel even more lawsuits, and the financial risks in this type of employment litigation can be enormous.”

Gerald Maatman, Co-Chair of the firm’s Complex Discrimination Litigation Practice Group and General Editor of the report, added that “Employers can expect that class action and collective action lawsuits will increasingly become ever more sophisticated and combine claims under multiple statutes, thereby requiring the defense bar to have a cross-disciplinary understanding of substantive employment law.” He further noted that “Given the enormous financial stakes, pro-active planning and legal compliance programs—to get ahead of class action risks—are of paramount importance to companies in 2009.”