The number of class-action rulings and dollar amount of settlements reached soared in 2017, according to Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s 14th annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, and settlements reached in 2018 look likely to continue to cost employers more.

According to HRDive, not only did the number of class-action rulings hit a record, at 1,408, but wage and hour settlements alone accounted for a combined $1.2 billion out of the total of $2.72 billion.

Says the report, “[T]he events of the past year in the workplace class action world demonstrate that the array of litigation issues facing businesses are continuing to accelerate at a rapid pace while also undergoing significant change.” This is despite the “transition to new leadership in the White House in 2017,” it adds.

In 2017, four trends in workplace class action litigation took the spotlight.

First is the “dramatic” rise in the monetary value of the top workplace class action settlements.

Second, federal and state courts put out numerous favorable class action certification rulings for the plaintiffs, but “evolving case law precedents and new defense approaches resulted in better outcomes for employers in opposing class certification requests.”

Third, filings and settlements of government enforcement litigation in 2017 didn’t do an about-face from the Obama-era pro-worker stance. Instead, government enforcement litigation actually increased in 2017.

However, in 2018, it looks likely that that trend will change under the Trump administration’s appointees and direction, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that a lack of government litigation on the behalf of workers will mean a reduction in worker challenges. Instead, “the ultimate effect … may well prompt the private plaintiffs’ class action bar to ‘fill the void’ and expand the volume of workplace litigation pursued against employers over the coming year as the DOL and the EEOC adjust their litigation enforcement activities.”

Fourth, more pro-business decisions by the Supreme Court, coupled with the appointment of Neil Gorsuch and key decisions to be delivered in 2018, look likely to “change the class action playing field in profound ways…. [L]itigation dynamics may well be reshaped in ways that further change the playbook for prosecuting and defending class actions.”

The report also expects more decertification wins for employers, who won 63 percent of wage and hour decertification rulings last year that was up nearly 20 percent from 2016.

Instant Insights /

Workplace class-action settlements hit $2.72 billion in 2017

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