18th Annual Workplace Class Action Report - 2022 Edition

Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report: 2022 Edition 39 discrimination victims. By comparison, the EEOC recovered approximately $535.4 million in FY 2020; approximately $486 million in FY 2019; and approximately $505 million in FY 2018. Of the total amount collected, litigation recoveries decreased from $106 million to $34 million in 2021. By comparison, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration recovered more than $2.4 billion in direct payments to plans, participants, and beneficiaries FY 2021. This represented a decrease from the past two years. The $2.4 billion recovery was down 23% from $3.1 billion in 2020, which saw a record-breaking year for the DOL. Settlements In Government-Initiated Enforcement Actions And Pattern Or Practice Actions For all types of government-initiated enforcement actions, the monetary value of the top 10 settlements entered into or paid in 2021 totaled $146.38 million. This represented a sharp decline from the 2020 total of $241 million, but a significant jump from the 2019 total of $57.52 million. 1. $61.7 million – Amazon.com 2. $20 million – Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. 3. $18 million – Activision Blizzard 4. $14 million – Facebook, Inc. 5. $8.5 million – Adat Shalom Board & Care Inc. 6. $6 million – United States 7. $5.5 million – JBS USA LLC 8. $5.3 million – DoorDash 9. $3.85 million – FIS Holdings Inc. 10. $3.525 million – Aerotek The majority of the settlements, involved EEOC pattern or practice litigation, while others included enforcement actions and investigations led by the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). 1. $61.7 million – In The Matter Of Amazon.com. Inc. , Case No. 1923123 (FTC Feb. 2, 2021) (consent decree approved in the FTC’s enforcement action relative to damages for retaining portions of driver’s tips). 2. $20 million – Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania v. Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. , Case No. CP-14-CR- 461-2021 (Penn. Com. Pleas Aug. 3, 2021) (settlement agreement reached following an investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General, where the company agreed to pay back wages it diverted from workers’ retirement accounts). 3. $18 million – EEOC v. Activision Blizzard , Case No. 21-CV-7682 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 27, 2021) (settlement agreement reached relative to claims alleging gender-based harassment and discrimination). 4. $14 million – U.S. Department Of Labor v. Facebook, Inc. (DOL Oct. 19, 2021) (following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, the company agreed to settle claims alleging that it unlawfully favored temporary visa holders over U.S. workers in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination clause).