2020 was a nerve-racking year for most people as they had to deal with a pandemic that claimed thousands of lives and caused severe economic problems to nations. The COVID-19 pandemic was the cause of thousands of lawsuits. Most of them were work-related, with workers suing their companies over unsafe work environments as well as their wages. The COVID-19 pandemic saw employees file over a thousand lawsuits in Chicago. Among these lawsuits, half of them dealt with firings and layoffs. Most employees’ points of the argument revolved around racial discrimination, while others claimed they were sacked because of their advanced ages.
About 200 of these cases were based on workplace safety, with employees claiming their businesses did not provide enough protective gear or hygiene products like soap and sanitizers. Some institutions were accused of not enforcing mandatory temperature checks or enforcing the wearing of masks by clients or visitors.
Similarly, over a hundred workplace suits were based on wage-and-hour claims, where employees were forced to work more hours. Other suits included employees being denied leave, and in others, employees sued their companies as retaliation for being fired unjustly for complaining about an unsafe work environment. During the lockdown periods, local governments closed restaurants and bars indefinitely, and their owners filed lawsuits against their insurance firms. It is recorded that over 1400 lawsuits were linked to insurance claims.
Below is a sample of decisions involving attorneys from the Top 10 firms based on gross profit’s participation in lawsuits, with a significant focus on over 100 published and unpublished federal and state legal decisions. The order of top 10 firms as per their gross revenues is Kirkland $ Ellis, Latham and Watkins, DLA Piper, Baker McKenzie, Skadden, Sidley Austin, Morgan Lewis, Hogan Lovell, White & Case, and at number ten is Jones Day.
According to the decision count, the firms’ lists as follows: Jones Day had the most cases, followed by Latham & Watkins firm and Kirkland& Ellis. All focused their litigation on federal courts. Among the most frequented were: SDNY, CDCA, and NDCA. Most of the litigation took place on the Eastern and Western seaboards and a few in the South and Midwest. California had 55 decisions, the highest, New York had 34 decisions, and Massachusetts ranked number three with 16 decisions. D.C., Illinois, and Michigan had 11 decisions each.