Wage and Hour Compliance and Defense
Experienced counsel in a fast-growing area of employment litigation
Capabilities at a glance
- A well-respected team with a national portfolio representing a wide variety of employers from across a range of industries.
- Effective and forward-thinking legal support and training to keep your business free of one of the fastest-growing areas of employment litigation.
- A focus on dispute resolution and avoidance. We have often successfully moved to compel arbitration, defeated class certification motions, preemptively moved to strike class claims and structured favorable settlement agreements for our clients.
- Seasoned class action and multi-plaintiff defense attorneys with deep knowledge of employment litigation and complex wage and hour collective and class action matters in particular.
Keeping you prepared and proactive on wage and hour compliance
Federal and state wage and hour claims continue to soar as laid-off, discharged, demoted and dissatisfied workers seek additional compensation through agency complaints and lawsuits. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and similar state laws are favorites of plaintiffs and their counsel who seek damages against employers, resulting each year in vast numbers of lawsuits. At Quarles, we believe it is always best to address issues around wage and hour compliance before agency audits and lawsuits arrive on a client’s doorstep. Avoiding a potential FLSA collective action or state law wage and hour class action through proactive internal review is a wise investment for employers. Our experienced team helps human resources professionals and management navigate these threats by providing up-to-the-minute compliance advice and actionable training, so you’re not forced to react when the Department of Labor (DOL), a state agency or a plaintiff’s lawyer forces the issue.
Strong and successful defenses of our clients on wage and hour claims
Integrating experience from various substantive areas and industries, the Quarles Wage and Hour Compliance and Defense team brings a wealth of experience to defending class action lawsuits. We are known for our successful defense of multi-plaintiff wage and hour lawsuits, and we are familiar with the special challenges presented by collective and class action cases. In multi-plaintiff cases, it is critical to have the experience to address class certification, scope of discovery, settlement management and other procedural and substantive complexities unique to such litigation. We know first-hand that the risks, costs and opportunities presented by these cases are significant and complex, so we will be in constant dialogue with you from the outset regarding the most cost-effective strategies to resolve the litigation.
Experience
- Conducting attorney-client privileged internal audits of timekeeping practices, payroll practices and procedures.
- Training human resources staff, managers and supervisors on wage and hour compliance.
- Advising on compliance with state and local wage and hour laws and coordination with federal requirements.
- Defending clients in DOL and state agency audits.
- Defending clients in wage and hour litigation and brokering effective resolutions.
Successes
- Quickly resolved a proposed wage-hour class action matter involving unpaid time for manufacturing employees who don and doff protective clothing, without the client making a significant investment into litigation of the matter.
- Achieved decertification of a proposed collective action involving health care workers who were allegedly receiving short lunch periods. We established through evidence that there were significant behavioral differences and personal choices among class members that rendered the matter improper for class treatment.
