Litigating Wage and Hour Class Actions: Certification and Decertification

Mr. Martucci practices nationally in business and employment litigation, with a focus on complex class action (employment discrimination and wage-and-hour, including California) litigation, as well as high-stakes executive disputes, whistleblower matters, and unfair competition. Working as part of a trial team, presenting and winning cases on behalf of companies before juries, and advising corporate clients concerning effective business and human resources practices are the primary activities in which Mr. Martucci engages. He has successfully tried a number of jury cases and has effectively resolved a variety of class action cases. His litigation docket is national in scope with cases throughout the U.S. His primary practice areas focus on complex class action (employment discrimination and wage & hour) litigation, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission litigation, unfair competition litigation, and business litigation. In the traditional labor relations field, Mr. Martucci has been involved in a number of NLRB representations, as well as serving as strategic labor relations counsel for national companies. 

Ms. Webber represents victims of discrimination and wage and hour violations in class and collective actions. She has had the honor of representing clients in some of the largest, groundbreaking discrimination and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class and collective actions in the United States, including Keepseagle v. Vilsack (D.D.C.), a historic nationwide race-based discrimination class action brought by Native American ranchers and farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The landmark $760 million settlement required the USDA to pay $680 million in damages to thousands of Native Americans, to forgive up to $80 million in outstanding farm loan debt and to improve the farm loan services the USDA provides to Native Americans. Ms. Webber was lead counsel in In re Tyson Foods FLSA MDL (M.D. Ga.), a collective action involving FLSA claims at over 40 Tyson chicken processing plants, which ultimately resolved the claims of 17,000 chicken processing workers who had been denied compensation for donning and doffing required safety and sanitary equipment; and Hnot v. Willis Group Insurance (S.D.N.Y.), where she represented a class of women vice presidents in Willis’ Northeast region, who complained of discrimination with respect to their salary and bonuses, as well as promotions. This “glass ceiling” case settled for an average payment of $50,000 per woman, a record-breaking settlement in 2007 for a sex discrimination class action. Ms. Webber continues the fight in Dukes v. Wal-Mart – a nationwide pay and promotion sex discrimination class action that went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011 and addressed standards for class certification in employment discrimination matters.

Ms. Harrison’s practice focuses on representing businesses nationally in commercial disputes and employment matters. She has worked extensively on wage-and-hour class and collective actions in a variety of industries. Ms. Harrison has also presented and written on a variety of wage-and-hour-related matters, including on the topics of defense strategy for wage-and-hour class litigation and the use of statistical evidence in wage-and-hour cases.