Lieff Cabraser's Employment Discrimination, Overtime Pay and ERISA Litigation Practice Area

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP represents employees in employment discrimination and other class action lawsuits filed across America. Our employment discrimination lawyers have been at the forefront of significant, precedent-setting lawsuits upholding the rights of employees.

Employment Discrimination Lawsuits

Federal and state anti-employment discrimination laws prohibit discrimination in the work place based on an employee's race, color, religion, age, gender, or disability. Lieff Cabraser has helped employees nationwide challenge discrimination in the workplace and initiated lawsuits to compensate the victims of discrimination.

Notable successes by Lieff Cabraser on behalf of employees in employment discrimination class action lawsuits include the representation of a class of approximately 25,000 female employees of, and applicants for employment with, Home Depot. In 1998, the Court approved a settlement of the case in which Home Depot agreed to modify its hiring, promotion and compensation practices, and paid $87.5 million, one of the highest amounts ever paid in a gender discrimination case.

Joined with leading civil rights organizations, we successfully prosecuted a class action lawsuit in federal court alleging that the hiring and employment practices of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., one of the nation’s largest clothing retailers, discriminate against Latino, Asian-American and African-American applicants and employees.

Lieff Cabraser is currently prosecuting several employment discrimination cases against major corporations, including Citigroup's Smith Barney Division (gender), CostCo (gender), Best Buy (race and gender), Cintas (gender), McCormick & Schmick (race), and Morgan Stanley DW (race).

Employee Overtime Pay Lawsuits

Lieff Cabraser also represents employees in overtime pay lawsuits.

Sometimes employers misclassify their employees as "exempt," "managers," "executives" or "independent contractors" as a way to prevent those employees from receiving benefits and overtime. Examples include people who work in chain restaurants as managers yet are also required to wait tables and work at the cash register, and IT tech workers who install and maintain computer software and equipment.

Lieff Cabraser has obtained lost wages and benefits for employees in overtime pay lawsuits, including the successful representation of employees of IBM, Computer Sciences Corp., Wells Fargo, A&P/Food Emporium, Denny's, Carrow's, the advertising firm TMP Worldwide, the California State Automobile Association, and Longs Drug Stores.

Wage and hour suits also arise when employers do not pay employees for all hours worked, even though the work performed is required by the employer and benefits the company. These cases can involve claims the employer forces employees to work "off the clock."

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For example, Lieff Cabraser represented assembly line workers in the Perdue Farms chicken plants who had to don, put on and take off and sanitize certain protective equipment. The company for many years did not compensate the employees for this work on the job. In 2002, the Court granted final approval to a $10 million settlement of the case.

Lieff Cabraser has also represented employees who are misclassified as "exempt" from overtime, when they should have been "non-exempt" and received overtime. For example, Lieff Cabraser represented IBM workers who install, maintain or support computer software or equipment and who were denied overtime because they had been classified as exempt. The court granted preliminary approval to a settlement of this case worth approximately $65 million in January 2007.

ERISA Lawsuits

Lieff Cabraser litigates claims on behalf of employees and/or retirees alleging interference with their interests under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Among its provisions, ERISA recognizes that pension and 401k plan trustees owe fiduciary duties to the participants and beneficiaries in these plans.

We represented former Pacific Telesis Group and SBC Communications, Inc. employees who became participants in 401k plans administered by SBC Communications, Inc. The plaintiffs alleged that SBC liquidated plaintiffs' AirTouch stock from the 401k plans without providing them with adequate notice of their rights to retain the AirTouch stock. In 2002, the court granted final approval to a $10 million settlement of the case. Lieff Cabraser is currently representing employees or retirees with ERISA claims in several cases, including against Caterpillar, Prudential Insurance, and RJR Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Current Employee Rights Suits

For a list of our current overtime pay, employment discrimination, unfair employment practice and ERISA cases, click here.

To contact an employment attorney at Lieff Cabraser, click here.