On February 9, 2017, Seyfarth Shaw hosted a signal event regarding workplace class action litigation in 2016 and the implications for employers looking to anticipate and prepare for workplace trends in 2017.
Vickie Lipnic, the newly appointed Acting Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, joined Jerry Maatman in launching Seyfarth's 2017 Workplace Class Action Litigation Report. Vickie has been a Commissioner with the EEOC since 2010 and her knowledge of the focal points of the government agency tasked with enforcing employee civil rights offered guests a great deal of insight. The EEOC has been increasingly committed to systemic litigation and, while these types of cases are intended to have a broad impact, Vickie stressed the importance of single plaintiff litigation and the impact that single plaintiff lawsuits can have on an industry, company, or geographic area. Vickie also opined on the importance of bi-partisanship as a Commissioner. She is the one remaining Republican-appointee on the Commission with Democratic-appointee Jenny Yang, her successor as Chair of the EEOC, whose term is ending July 1, 2017. Vickie noted that there are currently 2 seats open on the Commission, and President Trump will be tasked with appointing two new Commissioners as well as filling the currently vacant General Counsel position. With regard to these shifting positions and the new Presidential administration, Vickie confirmed that the EEOC is steadfast in its mission to protect and enforce the civil rights of all employees and to ensure that employers are readily prepared to adhere to the laws protecting their employees from discriminatory practices.
Additionally, Jerry discussed the six key trends in workplace class action litigation for 2016 and how those trends will impact employers in 2017. First is the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, et al., and Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, et al., and how they will influence complex employment-related litigation in the coming years. Equally important for the coming year, the Supreme Court has accepted five cases that are likely to be decided in 2017 that also will impact and shape class action litigation and government enforcement lawsuits faced by employers; chief among them is the issue of the legality of class action waivers in arbitration agreements. In terms of settlements in 2016, after reaching all-time highs in 2014 and 2015, the monetary value of aggregate top-ten employment class action settlement declined significantly overall, but wage & hour class action settlements sky-rocketed. Another trend for 2016 was that federal and state courts issued more favorable class certification rulings for the plaintiffs' bar than in past years. Plaintiffs, for instance, secured certification in 76% of the time in wage & hour class and collective actions. However, for the first time in over a decade, case filing statistics for 2016 reflected that wage & hour litigation decreased over the past year. Additional factors set to coalesce in 2017 – including litigation over the new FLSA regulations and the direction of wage & hour enforcement under the Trump Administration – are apt to drive these exposures for Corporate America. To the extent that government enforcement of wage & hour laws is ratcheted down, the private plaintiffs' bar likely will "fill the void" and again increase the number of wage & hour lawsuit filings. Also in 2016, Plaintiffs' attorneys were extremely successful in certifying first stage conditional certification motions, which can mean filings are likely to go up in 2017. Finally, the government enforcement lawsuits brought by the DOL and EEOC continued the aggressive litigation programs of both agencies, but by sheer number, lawsuit filings and recoveries were lower when compared to previous years.
Thank you to Victoria for visiting us in Chicago for this hugely successful event. We hosted over 150 guests at our Seyfarth Shaw Chicago office and over 1,800 guests via our live Webcast.
Thank you to everyone who joined us either here in Chicago or via our live webcast. For those interested in viewing a video of the presentation, stay tuned. We will be posting a complete video of the event next week.
Readers can find more information about the event on Seyfarth's Pay Equity Issues & Insights Blog here.
Additionally, if you have not yet registered for the upcoming WCAR webinar, you can do so by clicking here.
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