Over the years, employers have come to expect, prepare for, and defend against employment discrimination suits filed by current and/or former employees.  However, in a surprising departure from the filings of the past, employers are now faced with a new strain of employee litigation: wage and hour litigation.

Employee lawsuits, often times brought by multiple plaintiffs, are now more likely to raise wage and hour complaints than employment discrimination issues.  And this trend is only increasing.  According to an annual report by Chicago-based law firm Seyfarth Shaw, wage and hour litigation pursued under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act produced more rulings in 2007 than any other type of workplace class action, and the pursuit of such litigation is expected to continue through 2008.  See Seyfarth Shaw’s Fourth Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report: 2008 Edition.  Moreover, in 2007, the 10 largest class-action wage and hour settlements totaled $319.3 million, compared with $282.1 million for the largest class-action employment discrimination settlements, the report said. 

HR Tip - Q & A:

Question: How do you calculate overtime pay for employees who are paid at multiple rates of pay during the same 7-day work week? Click to continue...