Richard Alfred Quoted in Corporate Counsel
"Wage and Hour Litigation is Big - and Getting Bigger"

Boston partner Richard Alfred was quoted in the March 19 issue of Corporate Counsel.  The article discusses the recent significant uptick in wage and hour cases in the U.S.,  noting that there has been an over 15 percent increase in the number of Fair Labor and Standards Act (FLSA) cases filed in federal court between 2010 and 2011.  Most of these cases are large collective actions, but both single-plaintiff cases and collective actions have increased more than 325 percent over the last 10 years.  "At the federal level, the cases have been skyrocketing," notes Richard, who is the head of the firm's national wage and hour practice.

Richard notes that a reason for the significant increase in these cases is that employers find the law difficult to apply to a modern workplace.  The FLSA was passed in 1938 and amended by the Portal-to-Portal Act in 1947.  Richard notes that it is, "a very important law...but that in many ways it [the FLSA] fails to meet the needs of employers and employees in today's workplace."  Richard recently testified before the House of Representatives in a hearing related to the FLSA's current applicability and edited the Wage & Hour Collective and Class Litigation, co-authored by firm colleagues Noah Finkel, Brett Bartlet and Andrew Paley. 

Click here to read the full article: http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202546026856&Wage_and_Hour_Litigation_is_Bigmdashand_Getting_Bigger