Most Cases Now Consist of 100-500 Members
Today, class actions are smaller in size with the most common case containing 100 to 500 members. The vast majority of wage & hour cases today range from under 100 members to 2,500 members.
Smaller Cases Mean Smaller Settlements
Today, the median wage and hour settlement is $1.7M compared to $12.8M in 2007. The wage and hour landscape has shifted and now there are smaller less valuable cases but more of them. The sharp drop in case values occurred during 2007 to 2009 and seems to have leveled of now into the 1.6M range.
The Cases Are Smaller, But More Are Filed
The NERA study shows that only 20 wage & hour class actions were filed in 2007. The number of cases filed rose sharply to over 100 per year. We now have more wage & hour cases filed per year but they are smaller and less valuable.
Conclusion
The NERA study shows that large wage & hour class actions are uncommon. Now we have far more class actions filed but they are much smaller. The large class cases will be even more uncommon in the future due to Dukes v. Walmart. The impact of Dukes is trickling down to smaller class actions and we may see a decrease in these cases as well. Does this mean that wage & hour class actions are in retreat? Will we see less class actions and more collective actions?
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