Civil Rights & Employment litigation

We represent people who have experienced discrimination, or denial of pay for work performed. This includes discrimination in employment, housing, credit, or public accommodations, accessibility for people with disabilities, and wage and hour violations.

The civil rights and employment attorneys who lead our practice are legal visionaries and innovators. They have litigated landmark civil rights and employment disputes before the highest courts in the nation and continue to actively shape civil rights and employment law in the United States. 

• Joseph M. Sellers  has argued seminal civil rights and employment class actions before the Supreme Court and successfully litigated many class action cases through trial, He helped draft the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2009, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 – cornerstones of today’s civil rights and employment laws.
• Christine E. Webber is the co-chair of the National Employment Lawyers Association Class Action Committee, the nation’s leading employment rights law association. She is highly regarded for orchestrating large, data intensive class and collective actions. 

Our Focus Areas

Discrimination in the Workplace

Discrimination at work takes many forms—unequal pay, passed-over promotions, pregnancy discrimination, and more. When employers discriminate against their workers, federal and state laws provide powerful remedies. Cohen Milstein represents employees in class actions and other complex litigation against employers who discriminate.

We litigate class actions alleging systemic pattern or practice of discrimination as well as disparate impact discrimination, on the basis of:

• Age discrimination
• Disability discrimination or failure to provide reasonable accommodations
• Gender and sex discrimination, including pay equity
• Pregnancy and family responsibilities discrimination
• Race and national origin discrimination
• Sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination

We are actively monitoring developments in AI discrimination, where our experience is directly relevant. Artificial intelligence tools are increasingly used in hiring, performance evaluation, promotion, and compensation decisions. These tools may reinforce bias against protected groups – screening out candidates based on race or gender or systematically undervaluing certain workers.

Wage and Hour Violations

Wage and hour violations occur when employers don’t pay overtime, don’t pay regular time at the legally mandated rate, or fail to reimburse for required work-related expenses. When that happens, a class action or collection action can hold the employer accountable for the many affected workers at once. Cohen Milstein represents workers in FLSA collective actions, state wage class actions, and mass arbitrations.

Types of covered claims:

• Unpaid overtime
  • Not counting some activities as part of work hours, such as time spent putting on and taking off protective gear, time spent booting up equipment, or other required tasks
  • Off-the-clock work – requiring workers to continue their work after their scheduled clock out time, but not recording that as work time
• Worker misclassification – whether classifying an employee as exempt from overtime who is non-exempt, or classifying someone as an independent contractor or gig worker vs. employee – in either case refusing to pay overtime
• Workers on H-2A visas are guaranteed certain wage protections which may be violated by failure to pay overtime, minimum wage, or being charged fees

Discrimination in Housing, Credit & Public Accommodations

Discrimination occurs outside the workplace too. That can happen in housing, healthcare, education, financial services, and public accommodations. Cohen Milstein represents individuals in class action lawsuits against those responsible.

Types of covered claims:

• Fair housing discrimination
• Disability access – failure to provide reasonable accommodations in housing, public accommodations, education, online services
• Denial of equal access to credit and financial services
• Discrimination in medically necessary healthcare, including gender-affirming care

Landmark Results

Cohen Milstein has recovered more than $1 billion in discrimination and wage & hour matters.

Employment Discrimination

Jock et al. v. Sterling Jewelers Inc. AAA; S.D.N.Y. | Gender Pay Discrimination Class Arbitration | $175 million | One of the largest gender pay discrimination class arbitration in U.S. history, on behalf of 69,000 female employees of one of the nation’s largest jewelry chains.

Beck et al. v. Boeing D.D.C. | Sex Discrimination Class Action | $72.5 million | Certified class of approximately 29,000 female Boeing employees with claims of discrimination in compensation, overtime access, and promotions.

Breen v. Chao (FAA Flight Service Litigation) D.D.C. | Age Discrimination Class Action | Lead Counsel | $43.8 million | Largest settlement ever reached in an age discrimination lawsuit involving the federal government, on behalf of 670 former Federal Aviation Administration Flight Service Specialists.

Wage and Hour

Sanchez et al. v. McDonald’s Restaurants of California Inc. Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County | Wage and Hour Class Action | $26 million | Precedent-setting Private Attorneys General Act wage and hour class action bench trial on behalf of hourly non-managerial workers at corporate-owned McDonald’s restaurants throughout California.

In Re Tyson Foods, Inc. FLSA Litigation M.D. Ga. | FLSA Class Action | $32 million | Represented approximately 17,000 chicken processing workers denied compensation for donning and doffing required safety and sanitary equipment.

Alvarez et al. v. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. D.N.J. | Wage and Hour Class Action | $15 million | Claims brought by Chipotle managerial apprentices across the country denied the overtime pay to which they were entitled under federal and state law.

In re Pilgrim’s Pride Fair Labor Standards Act Litigation W.D. Ark. | FLSA Class Action | $10 million | Represented 8,000 workers in 11 states in a wage and hour class action for unpaid overtime, recovering approximately 85% of back pay owed.

Housing, Credit, & Public Accommodations

Keepseagle v. Vilsack D.D.C. | Race Discrimination Class Action | $760 million | Historic settlement on behalf of Native American farmers and ranchers denied equal access to credit and loan services by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Louis, et al. v. SafeRent Solutions, et al. D. Mass. | Fair Housing Act Class Action | $2.275 million and significant injunctive relief secured for tenant applicants who rely on vouchers and were subjected to SafeRent’s tenant screening algorithm which had an alleged disparate impact on applicants with vouchers, including Black and Latino tenants who were more likely to be voucher users.

National Association of the Deaf et al. v. Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology D. Mass. | ADA Accessibility Class Actions | Two groundbreaking class action settlements requiring Harvard and MIT to provide closed captioning on all publicly available online content, establishing a precedent for academic institutions and businesses worldwide.

Gender-Affirming Surgery Coverage by Aetna Pre-litigation | Transgender Rights | Aetna agreed to expand coverage for gender-affirming surgery for transgender members, including recognizing transfeminine breast augmentation as a medically necessary clinical service.

Stanley et al. v. BarBri Inc. N.D. Tex. | ADA Accessibility Class Action | Disability discrimination class action on behalf of blind law students against the country’s largest bar exam preparation course for inaccessible materials, mobile application, and website.Long Island Housing Services Inc. v. NPS Holiday Square LLC E.D.N.Y. | Fair Housing Act Class Action | $105 thousand and adoption of critical policy changes to safeguard against future discrimination | Class action against a prominent Long Island property management company for systematic discrimination against people with disabilities and those relying on subsidized housing income.

The Inclusion Rider

An inclusion rider is a contractual addendum that actors, producers, and other creative professionals can use to require hiring processes that address implicit bias. The goal is an entertainment industry that reflects the diversity of the world we live in. Cohen Milstein helped develop this novel legal tool as an extension of our civil rights and employment practice.

The inclusion rider gained widespread public attention when Frances McDormand mentioned it in a 2018 Oscar acceptance speech. The moment brought the concept to a global audience and prompted discussions about systemic bias in hiring in the entertainment industry and beyond.

The inclusion rider represents our commitment to advancing civil rights through every available legal mechanism.

Referrals and Co-Counsel Opportunities

Cohen Milstein regularly serves as lead counsel, co-counsel, and litigation partner in complex civil rights and employment matters. Our team has extensive experience in class actions, collective actions, and mass arbitrations.

We welcome referrals from attorneys with strong cases who are looking for seasoned co-counsel and partnership opportunities with civil rights organizations and advocacy groups.