Litigation Support for Employment Defense Counsel

We offer project-based litigation support to employer-side defense firms — combining legal expertise with direct experience managing the payroll systems and timeclock platforms that generate the records these cases turn on.

What We Audit

With Timeclock and Payroll Records

Waiting Time Penalty Model (LC §203) Cross-referencing termination dates against unpaid meal and rest period premiums to quantify §203 waiting time penalty exposure per terminated employee — the single largest source of derivative liability in most matters.

Wage Statement Deficiency Analysis (LC §226) Review of pay stubs for missing or inaccurate required fields: hourly rates, pay period dates, rest period line items for piece-rate workers, gross and net wages. Per-violation penalty calculation.

Regular Rate of Pay Audit Analysis of whether bonuses, commissions, and other remuneration were properly included in the regular rate for overtime calculations — a frequently litigated issue plaintiffs' counsel targets systematically.

Minimum Wage Back Pay Calculation Employee-level calculation of back wages where effective hourly rate fell below state or local minimum wage due to deductions, unpaid time, or misclassification.

Overtime and Double-Time Back Pay Calculation Employee-level calculation of overtime and double-time back wages owed based on actual hours worked versus hours credited, applied against each employee's effective hourly rate across the class period.

PAGA Exposure Quantification Full derivative penalty model — §226.7 premiums, §226 wage statement penalties, §203 waiting time penalties — with per-employee, per-pay-period granularity and realistic settlement range estimates based on current enforcement trends.

Class Period Damage Model Full damages calculation across the entire class period for use in mediation, class certification opposition, or settlement valuation. Includes confidence intervals based on data quality and completeness.

Rebuttal of Plaintiff's Damage Model Independent analysis of plaintiff's expert calculations — identifying methodology errors, overinclusion, improper penalty stacking, and inflated settlement demands.

Timekeeping System Reconstruction Reconstruction of work schedules and hours from scheduling software exports, badge access records, and other producible secondary sources. Scope assessed per matter.

With Timeclock Records

Meal Period Violation Analysis Transaction-level review identifying late lunches (4:59 Rule), short lunches under 30 minutes, and missed meal periods. Output: employee-level log with dates, violation type, and §226.7 premium exposure per instance.

Rest Period Compliance Analysis Shift-based rest period timing analysis and AB 1513 piece-rate line item requirements.*

* Timing analysis requires the employer's timeclock system to record individual rest period punches. AB 1513 piece-rate analysis is conducted from wage statement data and does not require rest period punch records.

Off-the-Clock Work Pattern Analysis Identification of statistical anomalies in punch data — uniform clock-out clustering, systematic gaps at shift end — consistent with off-the-clock work claims plaintiffs' counsel targets in class actions.

Rounding Policy Audit Aggregate analysis of net time gained or lost per employee from rounding — tests neutrality under the See's Candy standard. Produces employee-level and aggregate gain/loss tables.

Overtime and Double-Time Trigger Analysis Daily and weekly overtime threshold analysis, double-time identification, and AWA compliance.*

* AWA compliance analysis requires the employer's AWA election documentation.

Schedule Pattern Reconstruction Reconstruction of actual vs. claimed schedules from punch data for matters where the employer's scheduling position is disputed.

Record Processing Services

The combination of legal knowledge and the ability to build tools that process employer records is a capability no pure litigation support vendor offers.

Large-Scale PDF Parsing and Reconstruction Splitting combined payroll exports — including files exceeding 3,000 pages — into per-employee chronological files. Handles uAttend, Homebase, Payentry, ADP, Paychex, and other vendor formats. Turns unusable bulk exports into organized, attorney-ready record sets.

Multi-Vendor Data Normalization Reconciliation of records across multiple timeclock platforms into a single unified dataset — critical for accurate violation analysis spanning a full class period where the employer changed systems mid-period.

Format Conversion and Export Converting proprietary timeclock or payroll exports (PDF, CSV, XLS, vendor-specific formats) into structured data suitable for analysis, expert review, or production in discovery.

Gap and Anomaly Detection Identification of missing records, data gaps, system clock errors, manual overrides, and data integrity issues that affect the reliability of plaintiff's damage calculations — useful for both defense and damages rebuttal.

Attorney-Client Privilege

The audit is conducted under attorney-client privilege and constitutes attorney work product. If litigation arises, our findings are not discoverable. T