A trend toward a boom in class-action and collective litigation over workplace issues is expected to continue in 2007–starkly defined by circuit location. Pay and promotional practices continue to interest the plaintiffs' bar, as well as a wide variety of payroll practices attached under federal and state wage-and-hour laws.
One case that continues to dominate is Dukes, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2004). Here, on behalf of female employees of Wal-Mart, equal rights advocates charged Wal-Mart with denying promotions, training opportunities and equal pay to women. This is the largest sex discrimination case ever litigated against a private employer.
The plaintiffs' bar has increasingly used the theories in Dukes to seek certification of “punitive damages”-only classes under Rule 23(b)(2), as well as pressing for certification of mega-classes involving pay and promotion claims of employees in multiple facilities on a nationwide basis.
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