For employers with large hourly workforces, wage-and-hour compliance is not a back-office technicality. Wage-and-hour class actions remain one of the most common—and costly—legal threats facing employers today. Employers, especially those in the manufacturing and retail industries all share the same basic vulnerability: a single policy or practice applied across many employees, many shifts, and many locations.

A single missed-break practice, short or late meal period, rounding rule, pre, or post-shift task, or overtime-calculation error may be small on an individual basis. But if the same practice touches hundreds of employees over multiple years, the exposure can quietly grow into a multimillion-dollar liability.

Employers face not only alleged unpaid wages but also statutory penalties, attorney fees, prejudgment interest, and the practical costs of litigating a complex case. Employers should also understand that most Employer Practices Liability Insurance policies exclude unpaid wages and penalties or provide only limited defense-cost coverage.

The encouraging news is that most of these lawsuits are preventable. They rarely stem from a single bad decision. More often, they arise from outdated practices, inconsistent enforcement, or a simple lack of attention to the details. The best defense is not a clever argument made after the lawsuit is filed—though good defense counsel can certainly help. The best defense is building systems and practices that will prove your...

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