Ever wondered what a typical employment law case costs to litigate? Alot of attorney hours are after all spent on reviewing the case, drafting pleadings and motions to file in court, depositions, interviewing the client and so on. A recent survey conducted by the EEOC and Jury Verdict Research gives us an idea of just how expansive litigating an employment law case can be for the employer. 

If the employer’s case has just one plaintiff and no horrible facts (e.g., TMZ-type allegations, employer staring at me and called me names), expect the employer to pay between $0 and $50,000. That covers about a third of all cases.

If you have one plaintiff but horrible facts — 28% of cases — expect the employer to pay between $50,000 and $100,000.

If you have a multiple-plaintiff case and/or really horrible facts, expect the employer to pay between $100,000 and $1 million. That is about more than 33% of the cases.

And in the unfortunate event that the employer is in the 1% that have a case with lots and lots of plaintiffs and/or really bad and horrible facts, expect the employer to pay more than $1 million in fighting an employees claim. 

(Sources: EEOC, Jury Verdict Research, Seyfarth Shaw, Fulbright)