Employment and HR Management

Much of Econsult’s litigation work is related to employment disputes. We work on behalf of individual employees, classes of employees, and employers involved in disputes over employment discrimination, wage and hour violations, and employment terminations.

Class Action Employment Litigation
When a group of job applicants, employees, or former employees want to pursue similar claims against a single employer, they can form a putative class to consolidate their individual claims into one case. A court will then have to decide whether to “certify” the proposed class, thereby permitting designated class representatives to sue on behalf of everyone in the class. We have often provided litigants with statistical analysis and expert opinion on class certification issues.

Our experts have conducted studies and provided testimony on these issues in a variety of areas, and we have assisted in the evaluation of proposed settlements.

Discrimination Claims of Classes and Individuals
Our work in equal employment opportunity litigation often addresses economic and statistical questions regarding systematic patterns of employment decisions (e.g., hiring, compensation, promotion, and termination) across groups of employees defined by race, ethnicity, gender, age, or other characteristics. We also examine questions of economic damages of individuals or groups resulting from such decisions.

Wage and Hour Claims of Classes and Individuals
Most of our work on wage and hour claims is related to the measurement of economic damages resulting from alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Davis-Bacon act, and their state and local analogues. We have also conducted statistical analyses of claims of misreporting of hours worked.

Termination Claims
Litigation arising from the termination of employment relationships are sometimes based on contract law while others involve allegations of discrimination.  Our experience in the use of compensation projections in personal injury litigation has made us leaders in providing economic analysis for employment termination cases.

Human Resource Management and EEO Planning
Based on our extensive experience in employment litigation we have expanded our services in recent years to include consultation with employers on human resource management issues that are not immediately related to specific litigation. We have advised public and private employers on employee compensation, reductions in force, the organization of work, and administrative structures.