Jones Day - Services - Federal and State Wage-Hour Counseling & Litigation

As a full-service provider of labor and employment legal services, Jones Day offers both counseling and litigation defense in the area of wage and hour law. Wage and hour laws exist at the federal level (primarily, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)) as well as at the state, and may involve a variety of issues relating to minimum pay, calculation of overtime pay, requirements for exemption from the overtime pay requirements, maximum hour requirements, payment upon termination of employment and other wage payment issues, prevailing wage issues, and additional pay-related matters. Our labor and employment attorneys regularly advise clients concerning compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, related state laws, and state and local laws and regulations governing pay practices and restrictions relating to work hours. Jones Day also utilizes and updates a state-of-the-art Labor & Employment Database, which collects and categorizes all significant work product in the wage-hour field for easy searching and access, enabling lawyers across the Firm to share knowledge and materials so that, even within complex projects or cases, Jones Day attorneys can operate efficiently and quickly.

Jones Day also has extensive experience in defending against wage and hour claims brought against employers. While many of these are class actions—and wage and hour class action lawsuits against large employers are becoming more and more prevalent—any claim of improper pay policies or practices has the potential for significant damages and remedies. Thus, claims seeking compensation for unpaid overtime (for example, because of claimed misclassification of exempt employees) or for alleged unrecorded hours (or "off the clock" work) may be brought as class actions or as collective actions. Both have far-reaching implications for employers large and small.

We recently represented a large national retailing chain in its wage and hour class action litigation nationwide. In this capacity, we served as lead counsel in a number of class actions in which plaintiffs sought certification of statewide classes, consisting of tens of thousands of current and former employees, and even nationwide classes. In the cases that reached the certification ruling stage, we obtained either denial of certification at the trial-court level and affirmance at the appellate level, or reversal of certification on appeal. In addition, we coordinated the defense of the retailer in other cases filed across the country.

As another example of our Firm’s experience in wage and hour class actions, Jones Day recently served as settlement counsel for Macy’s West in resolving a statewide class action filed under the California wage and hour law alleging that approximately 3,000 Macy’s West employees in four job classifications were misclassified. We succeeded in settling the case for a fraction of the plaintiffs' original demand of $165 million. This is but one example of our high degree of knowledge in California wage and hour law. We have also represented General Mills in an overtime matter under state law in the Los Angeles County Superior Court and before the state labor commissioner.

In addition, we have represented such companies as GE Aircraft Engines; Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Staples, Inc.; Target Corporation; United Services Automobile Association, Inc. (USAA); Airtouch Cellular of California; Verizon Communications, Inc.; Gannett Co., Inc.; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; National City Bank; The Scotts Company; Provident Bank; The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company; Texas Instruments, Inc.; and McDonald’s Corporation in litigation involving a wide variety of wage and hour issues, including exempt status of employees, compensation issues relating to commission structure, time-recording issues, and on-call procedures.

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Lawyers Staff Overview Experience Professionals News Publications Achievements Main Practice Labor & Employment	As a full-service provider of labor and employment legal services, Jones Day offers both counseling and litigation defense in the area of wage and hour law. Wage and hour laws exist at the federal level (primarily, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)) as well as at the state, and may involve a variety of issues relating to minimum pay, calculation of overtime pay, requirements for exemption from the overtime pay requirements, maximum hour requirements, payment upon termination of employment and other wage payment issues, prevailing wage issues, and additional pay-related matters. Our labor and employment attorneys regularly advise clients concerning compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, related state laws, and state and local laws and regulations governing pay practices and restrictions relating to work hours. Jones Day also utilizes and updates a state-of-the-art Labor & Employment Database, which collects and categorizes all significant work product in the wage-hour field for easy searching and access, enabling lawyers across the Firm to share knowledge and materials so that, even within complex projects or cases, Jones Day attorneys can operate efficiently and quickly. Jones Day also has extensive experience in defending against wage and hour claims brought against employers. While many of these are class actions—and wage and hour class action lawsuits against large employers are becoming more and more prevalent—any claim of improper pay policies or practices has the potential for significant damages and remedies. Thus, claims seeking compensation for unpaid overtime (for example, because of claimed misclassification of exempt employees) or for alleged unrecorded hours (or "off the clock" work) may be brought as class actions or as collective actions. Both have far-reaching implications for employers large and small. We recently represented a large national retailing chain in its wage and hour class action litigation nationwide. In this capacity, we served as lead counsel in a number of class actions in which plaintiffs sought certification of statewide classes, consisting of tens of thousands of current and former employees, and even nationwide classes. In the cases that reached the certification ruling stage, we obtained either denial of certification at the trial-court level and affirmance at the appellate level, or reversal of certification on appeal. In addition, we coordinated the defense of the retailer in other cases filed across the country. As another example of our Firm’s experience in wage and hour class actions, Jones Day recently served as settlement counsel for Macy’s West in resolving a statewide class action filed under the California wage and hour law alleging that approximately 3,000 Macy’s West employees in four job classifications were misclassified. We succeeded in settling the case for a fraction of the plaintiffs' original demand of $165 million. This is but one example of our high degree of knowledge in California wage and hour law. We have also represented General Mills in an overtime matter under state law in the Los Angeles County Superior Court and before the state labor commissioner. In addition, we have represented such companies as GE Aircraft Engines; Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Staples, Inc.; Target Corporation; United Services Automobile Association, Inc. (USAA); Airtouch Cellular of California; Verizon Communications, Inc.; Gannett Co., Inc.; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; National City Bank; The Scotts Company; Provident Bank; The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company; Texas Instruments, Inc.; and McDonald’s Corporation in litigation involving a wide variety of wage and hour issues, including exempt status of employees, compensation issues relating to commission structure, time-recording issues, and on-call procedures.