Judy Greenwald

The COVID-19 pandemic will generate more workplace class-action litigation this year, particularly for wage and hour issues, experts warn.

There has been a significant increase in the size of aggregate class-action settlement recoveries, particularly last year, and the trend is expected to continue.

Based on the top 10 largest case resolutions in various workplace class-action categories, settlements totaled $1.58 billion in 2020 and $3.62 billion in 2021, compared with $1.34 billion in 2019, according to Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report: 2022 Edition.

“The big issue is, you’ve got the Biden administration that is very, very pro-worker, pro-regulation, and so you’re going to have government enforcement actions that are very much aligned with the plaintiffs class-action bar,” which will lead to an uptick in filings, said Gerald Maatman, a partner with Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago.

COVID-19 will contribute to the expected increase this year, experts say.

Employers’ efforts to comply with various COVID-19-related obligations “presents uncharted territory, as far as potential class-action claims,” said Gregory P. Abrams, a partner with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Chicago, who represents employers.

“COVID has opened up all new vistas for the plaintiffs bar,” said Lisa A. Schreter, a shareholder with Littler Mendelson P.C. in Atlanta.

For example, a California appeals court ruled in See’s Candies Inc. v. Ek, that South...

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