Companies are urged to take fresh looksat compensation schemes and be prepared to upend long-heldpractices that have created lawsuit vulnerability.

Pay-equity claims are increasing amid greaterpublic awareness, new state laws and multimillion-dollarsettlements, putting company policies ever more in focus andcreating “minefields” for compliance, a team of management-sidelawyers said Wednesday.

Attorneys from Littler Mendelson, speaking on a webinar aboutthe pay-equity landscape, urged companies to takefresh looks at compensation schemes and be prepared to upendlong-held practices that have created lawsuit vulnerability.

Related: Here's how you can proactively address gender payinequity

“The number of claims are increasing,” said Denise Visconti, aLittler shareholder in San Diego. “The new statutes are comingonline and we will continue to see this increase.”

Addressing risks and challenges, Visconti said companies shouldconsider updating policies and training. Job descriptions, shesaid, should be specific, allowing companies to defend their payscales.

“Look for the minefields in recruiting, employee handbooks,manuals for [human resources] and management training,” Viscontisaid. “You can run into trouble because documents don't match whatyou are saying.”

The attorneys pointed to several high-profile pay-equity cases,including more than 400 workers suing a pharmaceutical company in alawsuit valued at $250 million and a prominent law firm sued byfemale attorneys for $100 million. A telecommunication companysettled for $19.5 million, and a national insurer paid $4million.

Two gender-pay class actions targeting Silicon Valley and WallStreet moved forward last week in the courts. Judges found in thecases against Google Inc. and Goldman Sachs that companywidepolicies were grounds to include thousands of women in thelawsuits.

Equal-pay claims are rising, with dozens of suits pending instate courts. Theses cases are single-plaintiff and class actions,and the suits often are coupled with discrimination, sexualharassment and wrongful termination. At the same time, the #MeTooand #TimesUp movements have fostered greater public awareness ofalleged abuses in workplaces.

A new analysis from the NationalWomen's Law Center released Wednesday shows the gender wage gapremains pervasive across industries. In low-wage jobs, women make71 cents for every dollar paid to men and in high-wage jobs, womenmake 74 percent for every dollar paid to men in the sameoccupations. The high-wage jobs include lawyers and engineers.Among physicians, women make 66 cents on the dollar compared tomen, according to the report.

Twelve states have recently filed legislation to address payequity, including proposals to ban salary history questions duringthe interview process. Already, 23 states have equal-pay laws.These laws essentially reduce the number of defenses for employerswhen they are challenged, Visconti said.

“The focus becomes employers' policies and the employers'practices, and not just individual claims,” she said. “The theoryis workers are not treated fairly, whether it's a discriminationissue, an access issue or pay-equity issue. The plaintiffs'attorneys will see what washes out in discovery.”

This wave of momentum in pay-equity law and lawsuits makes itimportant for businesses to recognize and consider reputation, saidAllan King, an Austin-based Littler shareholder in the firm's classaction practice. The recent social movements, he said, have“generated the most movement in the space for business andreputational standpoint,” King said.

Companies increasingly are repositioning themselves todifferentiate and sell themselves.

“It's become a badge of honor that companies see as critical tomaintaining talent,” King said. “That's a fundamental shift.”