Class Action Employment Discrimination

Following a decades long trend, class action employment discrimination litigation continues to increase in both frequency and variety. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) receives numerous complaints each day alleging various claims of employment discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race, ethnicity, and other protected traits. Many of these complaints are taken up by private class action firms. However, in recent days, the EEOC as well as the OFCCP have significantly increased their levels of enforcement activity. Notably, the U.S. Supreme Court has recently made far-reaching decisions in the employment setting – the Dukes, Ledbetter and Ricci decisions made national headlines. These and other legal decisions have created significant and dramatic waves within the field, which will call upon all of the resourcefulness of professionals on both sides of the issues.

 

Resolution Economics is one of the most experienced firms in the nation at analyzing class certification and merits issues in class-action discrimination disputes. We combine labor economics with thoughtful statistical modeling of the specific business processes or practices in question. Out work is regarded as especially innovative and thoughtful. In class certification, we study whether the observed employment outcomes are related to specific, common and systematic company practices. To address merits questions, we study whether observed employment outcomes are explained by bona fide occupational factors and other non-company factors, or are instead consistent with a hypothesis of discrimination. All of our work follows two common themes: use of the science of labor economics to guide our thinking, and a focus on business and labor markets factors specific to a case and to a company. There are no cookie cutter models used in our work.

 

 

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LITIGATION

Analysis of discrimination allegations based on age, gender, race, and other traits, across many practices:

• Recruitment, hiring, and initial placement
• Promotions and advancement
• Performance evaluation
• Compensation and pay
• Terminations and RIFs

 

DISCRIMINATION ALLEGATIONS IN OTHER SETTINGS

Analysis of allegations based on age, gender, race, etc. related to:

• Fair lending/Predatory lending/Loan modifications
• Insurance red-lining
• Racial profiling by law enforcement agencies
• Discrimination in commercial or business settings