In yesterday’s Advisor, we profiled Seyfarth Shaw’s eight trends that make class actions a real danger for every HR department. Today, key issues and an introduction to a unique training system that will help you avoid class actions altogether.
Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report suggests HR managers take note of the following issues:
Trickle-Down Effect
First of all, the report says, beware the trickle-down effect in class action settlements—once there have been a few big ones, the next suits in line expect big settlements too. Add to that the increased awareness of wage & hour issues by workers, and watch out for collective actions in 2011.
Stoldt and Arbitration
A new case law trend in 2010 focused on workplace arbitration agreements, the report says. While no one suggests that the sun is setting on workplace class actions, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Stolt-Nielsen S.A., et al. v. Animalfeeds International Corp. does suggest that comprehensive workplace arbitration programs may help employers confront class action litigation.
Year of the Misclassified
2010 might be termed the “Year of the Misclassified Worker” class action lawsuits based on end-of-the-year figures that show a sharp increase in crackdowns this year by state and federal authorities, and filings by class action lawyers in pursuing private lawsuits against companies that allegedly misclassify employees.
Independent contractors
Employers utilizing independent contractors were the focus of intense litigation in 2010, the report says. Approximately 20 states and scores of municipalities passed laws in the past two years that make it easier to force employers to reclassify independent contractors as employees and seek unpaid taxes, or authorizing claims for “wage theft.”
The DOL and Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) also increased their budgets and staffs to identify and audit employers and their classifications of workers, as well as implementing its new “Plan/Prevent/Protect” enforcement strategy.
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Jurisdictional Issues
A technical part of the class action battle concerns the state court vs. federal court question.
For example, employees who sue in state court often seek to avoid removal to federal court by various stratagems, including “prayers for relief” of less than $5 million, the filing of multiple “baby” class action claims on behalf of fewer than 100 plaintiffs, and limiting the scope of the class to residents of one state.
What’s the Real Implication?
What does all this mean for HR? Two things:
- Many of these issues are too technical for HR managers. Issues such as court jurisdiction, class certification, and arbitration agreements point to the need for involving counsel early when class actions are anticipated or encountered.
- But … that doesn’t mean that HR managers should do nothing. Go on offense. To be sure, check on classifications and independent contractors, and most important, train.
Even with the best of intentions, your supervisors and managers will say something or do something that gets the company into hot water—unless they are trained. Unfortunately, up until now, training has been a real challenge—there’s such a load of extraneous planning, preparing, and tracking involved. But we’ve got good news—BLR’s editors have developed a unique new program that’s done all that work for you.
It’s called the Employee Training Center. This turnkey service requires no setup, no course development time, no software installation, and no new hardware. Your employees can self-register, and training can be taken anytime (24/7), anywhere there is a PC and an Internet connection. Courses take only about 30 minutes to complete.
No time to prepare or deliver training? With the BLR® Employee Training Center, your employees can start taking essential training courses the same day you sign up. Workers (and supervisors) train at their convenience, 24/7. We track, and you save with this turnkey solution. Yes, it really can be this simple. Learn more.
The Employee Training Center automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. When the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So, when you want to see who has been trained on any subject, or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available to you, your boss, an inspector—even a plaintiff’s attorney.
Course certificates can be automatically generated from within the training center and are automatically retained for recordkeeping purposes.
Unlimited Training That Won’t Bust the Budget
Best of all, in these budget-crunching times, the BLR Employee Training Center costs only a fraction of what you would pay for a learning management system (LMS). You always know exactly what training will cost, no matter how many programs you use, or how many times you use them. There’s just one low annual fee—for unlimited training—calculated by the size of your workforce. Budget once and you’re done!
These are all motivational, actionable courses—for both employees and supervisors—in such key areas as sexual harassment, FMLA, diversity, communication, USERRA, recruiting, and many more. The courses are kept up to date to reflect federal and state regulatory changes, and what’s more, BLR adds new programs continually.
The BLR Employee Training Center also includes a selection of safety courses—you decide whether you want just the HR courses, the safety courses, or both HR and safety.
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