ARTICLES & ANALYSIS
Wage and Hour Damages and Litigation Data Blog
Short takes on damage modeling, wage and hour data, and litigation strategy.
Wisdom That Only Comes With Experience
Thank you for visiting the Fair Value Metrics blog.
The goal of these short articles is to share the experiences we have gathered over the years in dozens of wage and hour cases. Each article is designed to quickly describe a technical or legal issue we repeatedly encounter, work we are proud of, challenges we can help your firm overcome, and to build common ground with our clients. If you have a common experience or commentary on a specific topic, please reach out and share it with us.
Select an article from the list to start reading.
ALL ARTICLES
Data Collection
Data Collection Tip: Collect Dates Correctly
Free text date fields create cleanup work that a date selector and separate start and end fields prevent. Keep intake data usable from day one.
Bonuses
Analysis Tip: Make Educated Decisions on Nondiscretionary Bonuses
Nondiscretionary bonuses belong in the regular rate, spread across the weeks they were earned. Breaking payments out daily makes the calculation manageable.
Damage Models
Do Your Damage Models Update in Real Time?
A checklist for testing whether a damage model can keep up with mediation and trial, from instant totals to allocations finalized in real time.
Fluctuating Workweek
Fluctuating Work Week Damage Models Get Complicated Quickly
The fluctuating workweek pay method combines a fixed weekly salary with overtime premiums. Modeling damages under it gets complicated quickly.
Data
Analysis Tip: Always Use Unique Identifiers
When building legal data for structured analysis, use employee ID as the primary identifier. Names cause problems, especially across large or messy datasets.
Expert Witness
Is Your Expert Actually Doing Your Calculations?
Too often, the expert a law firm interacts with is not the one performing the analysis. That matters in depositions and at trial.
Data
Analysis Tip: Don’t Track Data by Employee Name
Matching clients to their data seems straightforward, but it can become a complex production issue and a common source of cost, delay, and confusion.
Depositions
Ace Your Wage and Hour ESI 30(b)(6) Deposition
An ESI focused Rule 30(b)(6) deposition can resolve tricky data situations, increase recoveries, and reduce the cost of generating damages and exhibits.