Class and collective action lawsuits asserting wage and hour claims continue to outpace all other types of employment litigation in the federal courts. The volume of such cases increases year after year, and there is nothing to suggest that the trend will reverse itself anytime soon. The plaintiffs' bar that specializes in this area of employment law continues to grow, and with each passing year gets more expert, creative and aggressive in pursuing class and collective action lawsuits under federal and state wage and hour laws.

Wal-Mart Stores agreed Wednesday to pay $40 million to as many as 87,500 current and former employees in Massachusetts.

The class action suit alleged that the employer denied workers rest and meal breaks, refused to pay overtime, and manipulated time cards to lower employees’ pay.

They say this is the biggest wage and hour class action settlement in Massachusetts history.

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GAO-09-629, June 23. [online 23 July 2009] IWS Documented News Service _______________________________ Institute for Workplace Studies ----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach School of Industrial & Labor Relations -------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies Cornell University 16 East 34th Street, 4th floor ---------------------- ...

Earlier this month, a report was released on a 2008 survey of low-wage workers in the cities of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. The title of the report, "Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers: Violations of Employment and Labor Laws in America's Cities," kind of gives away the ending. The statistics are truly shocking:

• More than a quarter of those surveyed reported that they had received less than the minimum wage in the previous week, and 60% of those reported being underpaid by more than $1 per hour.
• More than three-quarters(!) of those surveyed reported not being paid for overtime worked in the previous week -- and they averaged 11 hours of weekly overtime.
• Almost a quarter worked off the clock (and weren't paid for it), and nearly two-thirds of those entitled to a meal break didn't receive the full, uninterrupted, work-free break required by law.
• 41% had illegal deductions taken from their paycheck (for breakage or to pay for tools or other items required for work, for example).
• 43% of those who had made a complaint or tried to form a union in the past year faced retaliation. One-fifth reported that they had not complained about a serious workplace problem in the past year, primarily because they feared losing their job.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis told the New York Times that the report "shows that we still have a major task before us." She also indicated that she's in the process of hiring 250 more wage and hour investigators.