Rob Speakman is an Economist in Welch Consulting’s Bryan, Texas office. Since joining Welch in 1992, his primary practice areas include discrimination litigation in class action and single plaintiff employment matters, wage and hours litigation under California and national law, and the valuation of disputed payroll practices. His work has been relied upon in litigation and mediation settings. He has also consulted with many companies under audit by the OFCCP or EEOC, companies wanting to assess and minimize the risk of litigation, and companies wanting to assess the treatment of their workers.

Dr. Speakman has a Ph.D. in economics from Texas A&M University. His fields of emphasis are labor economics and econometrics and his academic research focuses on the relationship between school quality and earnings. He has taught courses in microeconomic theory at Texas A&M University.

SELECTED CASEWORK

Expert Witness, Age Discrimination: Performed statistical analysis of layoffs in a single-plaintiff lawsuit. Replicated, evaluated, and commented on analyses performed by plaintiff’s statistical expert. Filed reports and was deposed.

Expert Witness, Wage & Hours: Statistically examined differences in the incidence of cashiering activity between workers using cash register clock in and clock out times for Store Managers and Assistant Store Managers at a large grocery store chain in an FLSA misclassification lawsuit in California. Analysis was used to help defeat class certification.

Consultant, OFCCP Audits: Performed OFCCP-style analyses of pay practices comparing the compensation of men and women and the compensation of whites and minorities among similarly situated employees for over fifty companies. These comparisons are in accordance with new OFCCP compensation standards. Also completed analyses of hiring, promotions, and terminations for use in Affirmative Action Plans and extended analyses that have been used at the desk audit stage of OFCCP investigations.

Case Coordinator, Payroll Calculation: Examined timecard and payroll records for a California hospital to determine the incidence rates of premiums paid for special shifts (short shifts) for 12-hour workers in a class action lawsuit. Calculated potential damages under various legal arguments. Developed an understanding of payroll practices and changes in those practices over time.

Consultant, Pre-RIF Audit: Analyzed differences in layoff rates between men and women, whites and minorities, and older and younger workers at the time of a mass reduction in force for a national retailer to assess potential risk of future litigation. Produced real-time calculations to facilitate the process.

Consultant, Wage & Hours: Organized punchcard, payroll, and task tracking data to examine the incidence rate of missed meal breaks and time worked pre-shift in a class action lawsuit for a company in the grocery industry in the New England region. The company used a meal break auto-deduction system and workers claimed that they were not receiving meal breaks. Task tracking data, which recorded an activity every 15 seconds on average, were used to show meal breaks taken and to examine work done pre-shift. Results were presented in mediation.

Expert Witness, Race Discrimination: Performed statistical analysis of promotion decisions in a single-plaintiff lawsuit. Replicated, evaluated and commented on analyses performed by plaintiff’s statistical expert. Produced report of opinions and findings and was deposed.

Consultant, OFCCP Audit: Organized and analyzed complex applicant and hiring databases in response to an allegation of gender and race discrimination made by the OFCCP. Prepared analytical data for production to the OFCCP. Incorporated applicant’s job histories and job preferences into the statistical analysis.

Consultant, Payroll Calculations: Organized punchcard and payroll data for a company with union employees who were paid a blended rate for scheduled 12-hour shifts worked. DOL has opined that overtime was paid incorrectly at other companies with the same practice. Computed damages given DOL regulations and existing pay practices.    Prepared settlement lists and databases for production.

Expert Witness, Race Discrimination: Statistically examined differences in promotion and termination rates between workers of differing races for the transportation division of a municipal government in a multiple plaintiff lawsuit. Produced report of opinions and findings.

Consultant, Wage & Hours: Organized punchcard and payroll databases for a company in the transportation industry in a California class action lawsuit. The company employs a large number of drivers and uses a meal break auto-deduction system. Organized and summarized data from GPS trackers placed on vehicles to estimate when meal breaks were actually taken. Computed potential damages due to meal break violations

Consultant, Gender Discrimination: Organized job history, payroll, application, and store data. Performed statistical analyses of pay and promotion decisions for a national retailer with a large commissioned workforce in anticipation of a class action lawsuit. Analyses were presented in mediation.

Consultant, Wage & Hours: Computed potential damages in a California class action for a construction company. Used GPS data and cement drum movement data on vehicles to assess the actual incidence rate of missed meal breaks. Produced analysis for settlement discussions.

Consultant, Payroll Calculation: Examined punchcard and payroll data for a company accused of incorrectly computing the wage rate at which overtime was paid as well as the number of overtime hours in two California class action lawsuits. Computed damages and penalties for mediation.

Consultant, Discrimination: Performed statistical analyses of pay, promotion, and termination for a manufacturing company wanting to assess the outcomes of their decision making processes and their potential risk in a class action litigation. The analyses examined differences in outcomes between men and women, between whites and minorities, and between younger and older workers.

Consultant, Wage & Hours: Examined personnel and computer processes data to determine hours worked by employees of a company in the insurance industry in a California class action FLSA misclassification lawsuit. Although no information on time worked was readily available, process-level computer data with over 2,000,000,000 records contained an indication of when workers started and ended their shifts. This data was used to estimate shift lengths and damages for these workers.