Wage & Hour Litigation

CRA experts routinely calculate potential damages associated with a wide range of Wage & Hour claims. We have extensive experience computing liability related to claims of off-the-clock work, overtime-eligibility misclassification and overtime earnings calculated incorrectly (including overtime true-ups), both according to FLSA regulations as well as states which have more worker-friendly laws such as California.

We have also computed potential exposure for state-specific rules, such as meal/rest period requirements in Washington state and California, penalties associated with incorrect pay stubs, PAGA penalties, termination wait-time penalties, and incorrect paid time off payments at termination.

CRA’s experts are experienced in analysis of class certification issues, liability, aggregate class, subclass, and individual damages, injunctive relief, and settlement distribution issues. Because class certification disputes often require extensive data analysis and econometric/statistical modeling, we frequently build and analyze large, complex datasets, and are experienced in refining large amounts of data into manageable tables and figures to aid clients in writing briefs or anticipating opposing arguments.

CRA experts and data analysts collect a client’s data, conduct numerous quality-control checks, and construct a database capable of addressing pertinent questions. We assess the general integrity of the data by checking its completeness, reviewing outlier observations, and testing the data’s internal consistency. Often the bulk of our efforts are spent on this phase since an analysis of unreliable data is unlikely to yield informative results. We advise counsel accordingly if deficiencies in the data require us to make assumptions which could materially impact results. CRA experts have worked closely with client data curators to prepare accurate data for production to courts, opposing counsel, and settlement administrators. Depending on needs, we can prepare the data for ease of use by all parties or a production which reflects how the data is maintained in a client’s system. We have prepared individual productions involving terabytes of data and billions of records.

We have also designed productions which represent a sampling of a population of interest. This may be especially useful when a putative class or its pertinent data is exceptionally large.

CRA’s economists can provide written and oral testimony in court or arbitration and explain their analyses to the court and jury during both liability and damage calculation phases of the litigation. CRA is also experienced in providing rebuttal reports and testimony, in which our economists review and critique an opposing expert’s written or oral testimony, optionally providing alternative damage estimates.

CRA experts work with counsel at several stages of pre-mediation work. We help to identify the correct putative class which can involve reviewing job descriptions, compensation plans, organizational structure, and other relevant criteria. We also prepare counts, descriptive statistics, and review trends over time which can not only inform counsel of the scope of the class but may also reveal distinct differences within a putative class which could impact class certification.

We can also prepare an array of exposure estimates for any set of scenarios which may prove useful to counsel during mediation. For certain cases we may develop an exposure tool, typically an interactive Excel workbook, which would allow counsel to modify several variables in an exposure formula to assess on the fly the impact on potential damages.

CRA’s survey experts can help you create, collect, and interpret surveys that collect data and information to be used as a part of employment litigation (e.g., surveys used as a template for a series of declarations) or as a part of crafting and informing your employment policies. We can help turn the data arising from such a series of surveys into statistical evidence that can form a valuable part of building your case or policies. Our experts will help ensure that your survey is more likely to be accepted by the court or help you to identify weaknesses in surveys drafted and used by opposing counsel, either in a consulting or testifying capacity.