On November 8, 2013, Jackson Lewis held its Employment Class Action Summit: Key Strategies for Defending Class Actions at the Grand Hyatt in New York City.  The purpose of the event was to inform attendees of the significant trends in employment class action litigation and offer key pre- and post-litigation defense strategies.  Experienced Jackson Lewis class action litigators presented on a variety of topics including:

  • Developing the Initial Defense Strategy
    • Reviewing the Complaint
    • Early Strategic Considerations
  • Key Strategies in Defeating Class & Collective Certification in Employment Litigation
    • Class action waivers
    • Post-Dukes and Post-Comcast arguments
    • Offers of Judgment
    • Use of releases, particularly in ERISA cases
  • Using Statistical Evidence and Data Analysis
    • Using data analysis to quickly and effectively evaluate class liability and damages
    • Combatting off-the-clock claims using door swipes, log-in records, etc.
    • Cost effective approaches to tackling massive data sets
    • Leveraging data to persuade mediators, judges, juries, and opposing counsel
    • Challenging opponents’ damage analyses
  • Preventing and Defending Employment Discrimination Class Actions
    • EEOC’s heightened enforcement of its systemic discrimination initiatives
    • Disparate impact based on pre-employment background checks and other assessments
    • Impact of Dukes on employment discrimination class actions
  • Key Strategies for Defending the Merits of Wage and Hour Class & Collective Actions
    • Preemption
    • Exemptions
    • Portal-to-Portal Defenses
    • Half Time v. Time and a Half
    • Klinghoffer Rule and Gap Time
  • E-Discovery in Class Actions
    • Special considerations for preservation in class actions
    • Advanced technologies and techniques for remote data collection
    • Search and review strategies
    • Recent case law concerning shifting of e-discovery costs

We had a terrific turnout for this event.  It was an honor to have representatives from over 60 companies in attendance which included general and assistant corporate counsels, vice presidents, human resource managers, and insurance claims specialists.  We hope all who attended found it informative and useful in defending against workplace class actions.