Society for Human Resource Management, "Huge Employment Cases Are Bigger, Scarier Than Ever"

          What's very big, very scary and extinct? If you guessed employment law class actions, you would be wrong. And some systemic discrimination and wage and hour cases are bigger and scarier than ever.
          The pending Dukes v. Wal-Mart case, for example, is the largest sex discrimination class action brought to date, with over 1.6 million class members. The class certification is currently on appeal before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
          In addition, the number of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class actions continues to grow. It's the most active area for class litigation, said plaintiffs' lawyers during the American Bar Association's annual meeting in Chicago earlier in August. "We have seen a 70 percent increase in wage-hour cases over the last three years. The first wave [of wage and hour class actions] involved the overtime status of assistant managers at restaurants. Next came claims involving the status of insurance claims adjusters."
          The next wave of FLSA class actions may well involve tech support call centers. The Department of Labor has seen a lot of off-the-clock work charges associated with call centers.