Another Year, Another All-Time High For Wage And Hour Litigation

Wage and hour litigation continues to soar to record highs. So says the federal judiciary's most recent data on cases filed in federal court over the last federal fiscal year. After hitting an all-time high of 8,160 in FY14, the annual wage and hour caseload spiked another 7.6% — to 8,781 — in FY15. In federal court, employers are more likely to face wage and hour claims than any other form of employment litigation.

The following graph tells the story:

As the graph depicts, this year's increase in wage and hour litigation continues the year-over-year explosion in these cases over the past fifteen years. Since 2000, the incidence of wage and hour federal court filings has skyrocketed by more than 450%. During the past decade alone, such filings have increased in eight out of ten years. This year's total of 8,781 cases is more than any two pre-2005 years combined.