Chapter 11: Labor & Employment

Top Disputes & Investigations

Even before COVID-19, the legal landscape for labor and employment was changing rapidly. Pay equity, non-discrimination, anti-harassment and employee vs. contractor classification, amongst others, had all become important issues. Now, with COVID-19 and the record levels of unemployment and upheaval to labor markets it has created, the range of labor and employment issues subject to litigation is likely to increase significantly.

In this section, of our 2020 Insights: Top Disputes & Investigations, we highlight our work helping clients resolve disputes on major Labor and Employment projects.

Statistical Analysis in a Wage and Hour Class Action

An insurance company that was facing allegations of unpaid overtime and missed meal periods and rest breaks from a California class of more than 1,000 claims adjusters. Legal counsel retained FTI Consulting to provide a testifying expert, who submitted multiple declarations that challenged the Plaintiffs’ proposed trial plan and the use of their expert’s survey results as statistical evidence of class-wide liability and damages.

In May 2019, the Court agreed with FTI Consulting’s argument that (1) Plaintiffs’ expert failed to show that the survey responses are representative of the entire class, and (2) the survey responses are inaccurate and biased, making them unreliable. The Court excluded all evidence related to the survey provided by the Plaintiffs’ expert. The case settled favorably for FTI Consulting’s client.

Calculating Profit Sharing in Alleged Wrongful Termination

Counsel for a large private telecommunications company retained FTI Consulting in a dispute with a former employee. The former employee, who had a profit-sharing agreement with the company, alleged that he was wrongfully terminated and was owed profits pursuant to that agreement.