Labor & Employment

We perform sophisticated statistical analysis for both class-action claims and individual plaintiff cases, involving allegations of discrimination in hiring, compensation, performance assessment, promotion, termination, and reductions in force. We have been retained in cases involving allegations of discrimination based on age, gender, race/ethnicity, and intersectional categories. We have experience with cases involving the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and several state statutes.

We provide support through all phases of litigation, mediation, and arbitration, including pre-trial discovery, trial strategy, class certification, liability determination, determination of economic damages, rendering of expert reports and rebuttal reports, deposition and cross-examination, and expert testimony. We also provide support in settlement negotiations.

In our litigation, mediation, and arbitration work, we:

• Emphasize understanding our clients’ institutional and economic situation (as characterized by their human resource structure, decision-making processes, labor markets, and product markets) and ensure that our models reflect these realities
• Are known for our careful preparation of complex data, including the marriage of human resource data with payroll data and historical files
• Provide rigorous, creative, and informative analyses using the latest tools and techniques from labor economics and statistics
• Communicate our analysis and results so that they are easily understood by clients, arbitrators, mediators, judges, and jurors
• Are involved in every stage of the project, from data preparation to report writing

Representative Work:

• Retained as testifying experts on behalf of the defendant, a leading professional services company, in a class action lawsuit alleging gender discrimination in pay and promotion, resulting in class decertification.
• Conducted analysis on behalf of the defendant, a Fortune 500 consumer goods company, in a class action lawsuit alleging race discrimination in performance and compensation systems, resulting in a favorable settlement.
• Retained as testifying experts on behalf of the defendant, a leading public relations and advertising company, in a class action lawsuit alleging gender discrimination in pay, resulting in class decertification.
• Retained as testifying experts on behalf of the defendant, a large wholesale manufacturing company, in a class action lawsuit alleging gender discrimination in hiring, resulting in summary judgment in favor of the defendant.
• Retained as testifying experts on behalf of the defendant, a Fortune 100 technology company, in a single plaintiff case alleging age discrimination in termination.

We assist corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations in proactively studying their workforce from a diversity and equity perspective. We partner with our clients to design studies to address their most pressing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) concerns and inform company decisions and actions at the executive team and board level. Our analyses and advice ensure our clients are at the forefront of DE&I initiatives and thinking.

We have considerable experience both in conducting representation and pay equity studies from a gender, race, or age perspective, and in examining associated hiring, retention, performance evaluation, promotion, and termination practices and policies. We have expertise in using publicly available data to conduct representation benchmarking studies that compare clients’ workforce representation with relevant labor markets. We also have a streamlined and sophisticated proprietary approach to preparing individualized pay adjustments and comprehensive pay remediation solutions.

While our studies may be viewed as a tool to help our clients mitigate the future risk of a government audit or employment-related litigation, clients also engage us because they are keen to “do the right thing.” To this end, clients often engage us to repeat these studies periodically and assist in their ongoing efforts to promote the well-being of their employees.

Representative Work:

• Conducted gender and race representation studies, along with benchmarking of representation to national and local labor markets, for a Fortune 100 finance and technology company. Also analyzed the company’s performance system, its retention and attrition, and its pay equity; produced recommendations for pay remediation; and were involved in briefings to the board and the executive team.
• Created a comprehensive DE&I report card with respect to gender and race for an insurance company, including pay equity and representation of incumbent employees, and the contribution of hiring rates, attrition rates, and promotion rates to the representation pattern. Also conducted an audit of job applications to assess representation in the qualified applicant pool.
• Conducted annual pay equity analysis with respect to race and gender for a global consumer goods company. Advised executive team and made recommendations for pay remediation that were successfully implemented.

We often work with legal counsel on cases in which the client company is facing an audit or investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). In these cases, we analyze company-provided data to establish if a statistical basis exists for the DOL’s concerns and help prepare appropriate responses. We also assist companies in instituting DOL-mandated human resource system improvements.

Representative Work:

• Retained as economic experts on behalf of the defendant, a Fortune 100 telecommunications company, facing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) suit alleging age discrimination in re-hiring, resulting in the EEOC withdrawing its suit.
• Retained as economic experts on behalf of the defendant, a large technology company, facing an EEOC suit alleging age discrimination in termination, resulting in a favorable settlement.
• Retained as economic experts on behalf of the defendant, a large hospital system, facing an EEOC suit alleging race discrimination in hiring, resulting in a favorable settlement.

We are experts in the valuation of losses suffered by families due to the wrongful death of a family member. Our analysis considers the full economic impact of the death to the family or estate of the decedent. Areas of economic loss may include loss of wages, fringe benefits, and household services. The decedent’s work-life expectancy, real growth in earnings, level of education, and lifetime earnings trajectory are just some of the factors we consider. We are proud of our ability to collect all relevant data through comprehensive research into case-specific details. Our methodology is state-of-the-art, and our valuation team always includes a forensic accountant and a demographer with actuarial skills.

Representative Work:

• Retained as economic experts on behalf of the defendant to estimate the economic loss associated with the death of a U.S. citizen living overseas with a complicated earnings and asset profile, resulting in a favorable settlement.
• Retained as testifying experts on behalf of the defendant, an aircraft manufacturing company, in a wrongful death suit; prepared and presented an estimate of economic loss at trial, resulting in a jury verdict in favor of the defendant.