HOW TO START AN EMPLOYEE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

Most employee class actions are about unpaid wages, or expenses incurred in order to perform the job. These cases may be class actions if the same problem happened to a great number of people. The employee who wants to start the lawsuit either needs to be well connected to the other class members to the point the other people will sign declarations and otherwise provide testimony and/or documents. Otherwise, the lawsuit needs to be provable by a systematic practice that essentially shows up on paper. For instance, paystubs may show work beyond 8 in a day, but overtime was never paid. For example, the employer may have an illegal policy of fining employees, or a written policy stating employees can only take meal breaks after their 6^th hour of work.

Presuming you are either connected to the class to the point you can round up employees to provide evidence about the same unlawful practices, or the challenged practice is documented in writing, the next step is finding a lawyer. Government organizations almost never bring class actions against employers. Trying to reach out to the Labor Commissioner, DIR, DLSE, California Civil Rights Division, or the EEOC will almost always be a waste of your time, and merely cause the claims to go stale.

Only certain lawyers handle employee class actions. Not all employment lawyers do. The Employment Lawyers Group can be reached at 661-412-9600 for potential employee class action representation.

The Employment Lawyers Group has a beautiful outdoor area to calm prospective clients. They also are able to start most cases on Zoom.

HOW TO KNOW WHO THE RIGHT LAWYER IS FOR A CLASS ACTION

Most law firms that handle employee class action lawsuits have forgotten they owe a fiduciary duty to the person reaching out to them seeking representation. This means the law firm must put its interests aside, and put the potential client’s interest first. Unfortunately for largely staffed employee class action firms this often means telling the employee they should pursue an individualized or group action opposed to a class action. If an employee’s damages are large enough to motivate an attorney to take the single case, they may be best served by starting their own case and not doing a class action. However, it may be difficult to find a lawyer to recover $20,000 or less in wages for one person. Realistically, the only option may be a class action. Even for cases worth $35,000-$40,000 it may be difficult to find a lawyer, let alone a quality employment lawyer, willing to represent just one person.

The best class actions law firms for employees are not the ones with 10-100 lawyers who come and go all the time. Those law firms will generally recklessly pursue a class action when the case may not be capable of class action treatment. They will also ignore the employee’s individual damages. Those law firms are often overstaffed with inexperienced lawyers who could not possibly try the case in court. Overall, they will provide inadequate advice because they are essentially class action paper pushers. In addition, many lawyers at class action only law firms do not have trial experience because class actions rarely go to trial.

Law firms that are new and very small will probably not have the resources to handle the case. Wage and hour class actions require the advancing of significant costs by the law firm. Experts have to be hired. Sometimes there are also a lot of depositions.

It is also important that the attorney listen very closely to the prospective client’s desires about the litigation. Class actions take a long time. An employee filing a class action must be willing to stick with the litigation for years. They must be the kind of person doing the case as a matter of principal and really meaning it.

THE EMPLOYMENT LAWYERS GROUP AS CLASS ACTION LAWYERS

The Employment Lawyers Group is only staffed by extremely experienced, long term firm attorneys. Because class actions are not all they do, they have considerably more trial experience than almost all of their competitors. Because the law firm has been in business since 1993, they have the resources to handle a larger case that takes time and requires that costs be advanced. The law firm is led by Karl Gerber who has recently tried very long, complex trials for large groups of employees suing for on-call work, overtime, meal breaks, rest breaks, off the clock work, expense reimbursements, and questionable alternative work week schedules modifying the normal rules about overtime. He has not just tried one case like this, but many in the last 10 years.

Individualized attention happens from the first call to the Employment Lawyers Group. If the case is a possible class action you will be talking directly to Karl Gerber. You will not talk to a secretary, paralegal, or junior lawyer. He will immediately gauge your aptitude for being a class representative versus wanting immediate compensation merely for your own damages.

From the first call with Karl Gerber, he will ethically advise you of your best options. If he feels your case is too small he will refer your case to somebody who takes single employee wage and hour cases, or small group cases. The viability of suing your employer will be examined. Are they big enough for a meaningful individual, group, PAGA, or class action settlement? A discussion will occur whether PAGA is an alternative to a class action, and whether Mr. Gerber is able to find the existence of an earlier PAGA action or class action. He may also suggest you gather your evidence and send it by text or email and/or see if your coworkers have the same issue and want to be involved in the case.

Many times a few employees decide it is time to sue. In those cases, a group action opposed to a class action might be best. That will be considered between you and Karl Gerber in a confidential, attorney client privileged discussion.

Please call Karl Gerber at 661-412-9600 to discuss a potential wage and hour class action, group action, or PAGA action. Be ready to move forward. Mr. Gerber’s time is valuable and should be reserved for potential clients who are going to sue.