Discrimination Class Actions
I. Executive Summary
Class action litigation in the discrimination space remains an area of prime focus of skilled class action litigators in the plaintiffs' bar.
Plaintiffs succeeded in certifying their cases at a slightly higher rate this past year. In 2025, courts granted class certification 50% of the time and denied certification in 50% of the cases. In contrast, in 2024, courts granted 53% of class certification motions and denied 47% of them.
Class actions challenging employment policies and practices has a robust history since passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For decades, federal courts routinely granted class certification in nationwide employment discrimination class actions, which often spiked settlements that entailed huge pay-outs and across-the-board changes to HR systems and personnel practices. In turn, significant changes in the workplaces of Corporate America resulted from class action precedents, massive settlements, and
