Labor, Employment, Discrimination and Statistics
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) receives hundreds of complaints daily alleging some form of discrimination. The Department of Labor (DOL) enforces federal laws for issues related to overtime pay and classification of employees as exempt or non-exempt. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) investigates the employment practices of federal contractors to ensure that they are in compliance with the relevant laws and regulations. Employers face a barrage of employment related litigation from individual plaintiffs as well as class action suits. Labor and employment attorneys and human resource executives alike have relied on the experts at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group (AACG) when faced with a variety of challenging circumstances that require incisive analysis.
How We Can Help
Economists at AACG have over 30 years of experience assisting clients with a wide variety of labor and employment challenges. Among its experts, AACG has Ph.D. economists with extensive background in labor and employment matters, who have produced objective, scientific estimates of damages and assisted counsel with creative liability arguments in single plaintiff, multi-plaintiff, and class action litigations. Our economists have authored expert reports and provided deposition and expert testimony in a broad range of labor and employment matters. AACG’s unique offering includes careful analysis by experienced and attentive Ph.D. economists, deep experience working with voluminous, complex data, and an extensive network of subject-matter experts who provide case-critical, industry-specific knowledge. Economists at AACG also have assisted the Department of Labor, employers, and legal counsel on a variety of compliance and business advisory issues, conducting proactive pay studies, reviewing and creating pay practice guidelines and assisting with OFCCP audits.
Litigation
Discrimination:
Analysis of a discrimination claim requires a thoughtful review of a company’s employment practices and a precise model of the firm’s decision-making process. We work with clients and subject experts to first develop an accurate modeling approach and then apply our extensive knowledge and labor expertise, using rigorous economic analysis and state-of-the-art statistical techniques, and knowledge of legal standards and agency practices to assess the merit of discrimination claims and to quantify any potential monetary damages. We have experience in a variety of settings, including:
- Failure to hire
- Failure to promote
- Equal Pay Act/Title VII violations
- Proactive Pay Studies
- Wrongful termination
In addition to expert testimony, our litigation team has provided economic and statistical advice during the certification, discovery and/or settlement stages of the process, and assisted companies and counsel in responding to OFCCP and EEOC notices and investigations.
Economists at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group (AACG) have decades of experience analyzing complex labor and employment issues in various industries, including fast food, agriculture, pharmaceutical, and retail. We have produced objective, scientific estimates of lost earnings, as well as provided liability arguments, in single plaintiff, multi-plaintiff, and class action litigations. AACG economists have assisted clients with their responses to OFCCP investigations and have conducted proactive pay equity studies. We have also used our statistical expertise to help companies carry out studies to ensure that a proposed reduction-in-force does not adversely impact protected class members. Adept in using advanced analytical methods and working with large, complex data sets, our experts have provided rigorous, scientific analyses of challenging problems for both plaintiffs and defendants. Our ability to communicate complicated results clearly and concisely has helped our clients in court and in negotiations with regulatory agencies, where we have provided expert reports and served as expert witnesses.
AACG economists have experience in the following labor and employment topics:
- Compensation dispute damages
- Age, race, and gender discrimination matters arising from Title VII and ADEA claims
- Hiring practices
- Compensation structure
- Statistical sampling
- Survey design and implementation
- Data coding, processing and analysis
- Regression and statistical modeling
Wage & Hour (FLSA):
Economists at AACG have assisted companies and counsel to address wage and hour class action suits brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the California Labor Code, and other State Codes. We provide assistance throughout the litigation process, from discovery and class certification to damage estimation. Our experience in these matters includes:
- Statistical sampling
- Survey design and implementation
- Data coding, processing and analysis
- Analysis of claims, depositions, and court testimony
- Regression and statistical modeling
In class certification stages, AACG economists have responded to wage and hour claims by quantifying the variation in worker responsibilities, effectively demonstrating that workers have discretion in fulfilling job requirements. In response to liability issues, we have estimated the percentage of time workers spent performing exempt tasks, utilizing a variety of company data sources. AACG economists’ access to a wide network of industry-specific expertise allows us to identify relevant data sources that otherwise would not have been analyzed. These unexpected data sources are often particularly valuable in understanding employee activity in FLSA claims.
Compliance/Business Advisory
Economists at AACG proactively review clients’ employment and pay practices, helping them establish employment procedures and workforce reorganizations that satisfy EEOC and OFCCP criteria. Specifically, we apply statistical techniques to examine salary and promotion plans to identify whether members of a protected class may be adversely impacted. AACG economists conduct proactive pay studies, which allow clients to identify any pay disparities in advance of potential litigation or regulatory inquiries. In addition, we monitor hiring practices for compliance with consent decrees and conduct adverse impact studies of planned layoffs and reorganizations for prima facie evidence of protected-group bias. Economists at AACG also keep informed about new EEOC and OFCCP regulations and can assist clients in anticipating changes to data reporting requirements and analyses that regulatory agencies may perform using the new data.
Selected Experience
| Issue | Clients | Approach |
| Wage and Hour Damages: Meal and Rest Breaks | Construction Materials Manufacturer | Testified in Court on issues of statistical sampling and modeling. |
| Large-Scale Personal Injury | Major Corporation Producing Consumer and Medical Products | Assessed the theory and potential liability associated with various approaches to punitive damages. Captured corporate records to determine size of the population impacted and developed and calculated statistically and actuarially valid assessments of damages. |
| Damages related to Compensation Dispute | Large US Corporation | Constructed comparison group based on factors such as demographics, education, and occupation using data from multiple years of Current Population Survey (CPS). |
| Age Discrimination Litigation | Large US Retailer | Supported expert in ascertaining that a lay-off did not negatively impact employees over the age of forty. Estimated potential damages. |
| Fairness in Hiring Practices | Mid-Sized Food Company | Assisted client in responding to Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) investigation by examining records and data on hiring practices. |
| Design Pay Structure | Mid-Sized Retailer | Assisted firm in designing pay bands for sales employees. |
| Proactive Pay Equity Audits | Mid-Sized Retailer | Assisted employers by modeling compensation practices and performing regression analysis to identify potential pay disparities. |