Employment law heats up in chilly economic environment - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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“It’s probably 20 to 25 percent saidJohn Vering, an employment lawyer in ’s Kansad City office. His estimation matches up with the increasein employment-related cases showing up on federal court dockets. In the , employmengt lawsuits for the first half of 2009 rose 21 percen t from the first halfof 2008, up to 80 from 66. This year’sx activity in the same court outpaced the firsy half of 2007 by35 percent. Similarly, nationakl statistics from the show marked increases in age discrimination claims, a symptom of a bad economuy as laid-off employees often older workers — sue to try to securd a better severance.
“You have got a lot of companiese that have been going in and scaling back andhavint layoffs, and a lot of the people who are getting laid off normallyy might not file a claim if they were able to get a job somewhered else,” said James Holland, a lawye r at . The EEOC receiveds a record number of age discrimination claimain 2008, rising to 24,58 from 19,103 in 2007 — a 29 percent Similarly, the monetary benefits paid to claimantse increased 24 percent from 2008 to 2007, rising to $82.88 million from $66.8 Attorneys don’t expect it to slow.
“u would be shocked if there was a saidMike Blumenthal, a lawyer at employmen t law boutique Employment proposals from the Obama administration, includingh overhauls of laws and limits on pre-employment arbitration agreements, may spike employment claims further. The growing workloaed has created a conundrum for Blumenthal abougt whether his firm will hiremore lawyers. “We’re wrestling with it becausd we are committed to trying to keep our shop on the smallo side and focused on what we he said. “But it’s becoming increasingly tough with the influx of caseswe have. We’re going to have to rethinki that.
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