You may represent individual employees, or a class of workers, who allege that their employer owes them for unpaid wages, overtime and/or meal and rest periods. Conversely, your client may be a company being sued for violating such wage and hour laws. In either case, you need a factual understanding of the workplace operations and a detailed review of the relevant documents to guide the litigation strategy and give you a better basis on which to evaluate the potential value of such a claim.

PII has conducted investigations into wage and hour practices in small firms, mid-sized companies, and large corporations. Preparing these cases can involve talking to potential class members and witnesses and organizing and reviewing reams of documents, including timesheets, overtime logs, and work schedules. PII can assist with both witness interviews and document management, lightening the organizational load for attorneys.

A few employees of a car wash complained to the Department of Labor (DOL) that they were not being paid for all the hours they worked. Based on its investigation of the workplace, the DOL pursued the employer for unpaid wages for all of the staff. During negotiations with the DOL, attorneys for the car wash retained PII to verify the validity of the claimants’ allegations. PII interviewed many of the Spanish-speaking workers, who were initially reluctant to talk. Eventually PII determined that while some of the claims were true, not every worker encompassed in the DOL claims had been improperly paid. PII secured declarations stating these facts, which defense counsel used to negotiate a more favorable settlement in the matter.