|
Class Action
A class action is feasible when the complaint affects many people, the parties are numerous, and when
it is impracticable to bring them all before the court, one at a time. A class action is usually filed by one
or more plaintiffs (the class representatives) on behalf of themselves and other similarly injured
persons. Class actions are not automatic. The lawsuit must be "certified" as a class action by the court
which means that the representative plaintiffs must demonstrate that they adequately represent and are
able to protect the interests of the other members of the class. Even if the class is certified, potential
members of the class may exclude themselves by "opting out" in order to pursue their claims
individually. Often an individual's claims are more valuable if litigated separately, but of course the
individual bears the burden of carrying the entire lawsuit on her own while class members, other than
the class representatives, generally are required to take no action. And of course, class members will
share the final judgment or settlement with all other members of the class. Even class representatives
who carried the burden of the lawsuit only share equally with all others, although the court may allow
them an additional premium in recognition of their efforts.
Class actions may be brought on most legal theories associated with employment law as long as the
class is large enough and the rights pursued are sufficiently alike for all members. One area of recent
heavy class activity has been wage and hour litigation. A typical example is where a large corporation
classifies its first line managers as "non-exempt" and pays them a weekly salary with no overtime for
extra hours. If there are 100's of such managers, they worked a lot of uncompensated hours
collectively, and their jobs are essentially same everywhere in the company, the class may be certified.
Each manager stands to recover all or some of his or her uncompensated hours. While each person's
individual recovery may be small, liability for the company can quickly escalate to the 10's of millions of
dollars across hundreds or thousands of employees. For this reason, decisions regarding how to pay
employees are critical and can subject the company to huge potential liabilities.
There are other ways an employee can sue on behalf of others. Aan employee injured by an unfair,
fraudulent or illegal business practice of his employer may sue on his own behalf and on behalf of co-
workers under California's unfair competition law (Business and Professions Code §17200). In
addition, the California "Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004" created a private right of
action that allows employees to collect a percentage of penalties that they recover on behalf of
themselves and former or current employees.
|
