WANTED Technologies: One Billion Help Wanted Advertisements Database: Uses & Limitations

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Toby Lindsey
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1 WANTED Technologies: One Billion Help Wanted Advertisements Database: Uses & Limitations March 21, 2015

Uses of Help-Wanted Ads by Vocational Experts Determining whether a plaintiff in a lawsuit adequately mitigated damages. Identifying jobs available in the local labor market for a client.

2 Uses of Help-Wanted Ads by Vocational Experts Determining whether a plaintiff in a lawsuit adequately mitigated damages. Identifying jobs available in the local labor market for a client. Evaluating what job qualifications or attributes employers typically require or prefer for employees in a specific occupation and labor market. Establishing which employers hire most employees in an occupation or labor market 2

3 Mitigation of Economic Lost Income Damages Determining whether a plaintiff in a lawsuit adequately mitigated damages. Plaintiffs may be required to mitigate damages when they sue for lost income, by looking for other work. [F]ront pay awards must be reduced by the amount plaintiff could earn using reasonable mitigation efforts. Thus, front pay is intended to be temporary in nature. An award of front pay does not contemplate that a plaintiff will sit idly by and be compensated for doing nothing. Cassino v. Reichhold Chems., Inc., 817F.2d 1347(9th Cir.1987) 3

4 Burden of Proof on Defendant The defendant may need to prove that the plaintiff did not mitigate damages. Typically, the employer has the burden to demonstrate that suitable work existed in the marketplace and that its former employee made no reasonable effort to find it." Greenway v. Buffalo Hilton Hotel, 143 F.3d 47, 53 (2d Cir.1998). Thus, a defendant must show that a claimant did not make reasonable efforts to obtain comparable work, or that comparable work was available and the claimant did not seek it out. E.E.O.C. v. Joe's Stone Crab, Inc., 15 F.Supp.2d 1378 (S.D.Fla.1998) (citation omitted). 4

5 Did Plaintiff Mitigate Damages? The defendant hires an expert to analyze the plaintiff s mitigation efforts. Plaintiff s job search efforts are reviewed and compared to labor market indicators in the relevant labor market. This review may include jobs that have been available in the plaintiff s occupation and location since the time of termination. Advertisements can be a good indicator of available jobs. 5

6 Sources of Help-Wanted Advertisements Sources of current help-wanted advertisements: Online data from major individual sources (e.g. Career Builder, Monster, and craigslist) Social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook Data aggregators such as Indeed, SimplyHired.com and Beyond.com which combine ads from multiple individual job boards Individual employer websites State agency websites Problem: These sources typically offer only current data. 6

7 WANTED Analytics TM Database One billion help wanted ads collected over 8 years from over 11,000 sources Used by government agencies as a source for labor market information Provided to The Conference Board for use in their Help- Wanted OnLine Data Series TM, the monthly economic indictor of Hiring Demand in the United States 7

8 WANTED Analytics TM Database Four-year trends and top three labor markets are shown. 8

9 Sample Mitigation Case Alicia, the Executive Secretary Occupation: Location: Executive Secretary San Antonio, TX Date of Termination: July 1, 2011 Complaint: Wrongful termination based on violation of FMLA Previous Salary: Mitigation Attempt: $36,230 per year Applied to three jobs per month; has not found employment Claim: Loss of $36,230 per year, projected until retirement 9

10 Applying Filters for Occupation and Location 10

11 Hiring Trends 11

12 Getting Results 12

13 Reviewing Ads List 13

14 Reading the Ads 14

15 Search Results Job title Employer Occupation Geographic location Industry Source Publication date Full text of the ads For ads posted from the time of termination 15

16 Ordering the Data To obtain data, a spec is sent to Forensic JobStats Data spec example for Executive Secretary: Locations: San Antonio, TX Metropolitan Area Other area(s), if relevant Time period: July 1, 2011 to present Occupations: Executive Secretaries and Administrative Assistants Other occupation(s), if relevant Other: Specify keywords, if relevant (whether in title or body of ad) Specify which database fields to include (i.e. fields in the search results slide). Specify output format (i.e. excel spreadsheet or formatted pdf tables) 16

17 Receiving the Data Data can be provided as an Excel or PDF file. Monthly or quarterly counts may also be included. Average Monthly ads of Executive Secretary Ads in San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA, July 2011 to Dec 2014, by Quarter 2011 Jul - Sep 2011 Oct - Dec 2012 Jan - Mar 2012 Apr - Jun 2012 Jul - Sep 2012 Oct - Dec 2013 Jan - Mar 2013 Apr - Jun 2013 Jul - Sep 2013 Oct - Dec 2014 Jan - Mar 2014 Apr - Jun 2014 Jul - Sep 2014 Oct - Dec

18 Over the past five years, we have used WANTED Technologies data in over 40 cases. Actual Cases Example case studies can illustrate the types of cases for which we have used a WANTED Technologies ad search These are actual cases in which advertisements were used as part of our analysis of a plaintiff s mitigation efforts Because many of the cases we have worked on have been settled, not all of the information is public. Therefore, we have left out certain specific details of the case, including the case citation. 18

19 Actual Cases: Case 1 A skid loader and forklift operator with factory experience Claimed she was terminated in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Only provided a list of three employers to which she actually applied. Expert projected that she would never work again. We found over 100 ads per month relevant to her occupation. This case was dismissed on summary judgment. 19

20 Food server with union job Actual Cases: Case 2 Claimed he was terminated without cause in violation of union rules Applied for very few jobs We found over 2,000 ads for waiters, bartenders, and other food servers in his geographic area during the time period of his unemployment including help-wanted ads and listings through his union The arbitrator in this case awarded no back pay damages to the plaintiff, because the plaintiff failed to look for mitigating employment 20

21 Actual Cases: Case 3 Executive Secretary with over 15 years experience Claimed she was terminated due to race and age discrimination, retaliation and violation of contract While she provided a list of over 100 job search activities, most of the activities were "passive", such as looking at online job boards and deciding that there were no jobs available We found approximately 500 to 1,200 job ads each month relevant to plaintiff 21

22 Actual Cases: Case 4 Network administrator was injured in a work-related auto accident Sued employer & insurance company for lost wages He provided no evidence of a job search We looked for ads in his occupation and removed ads containing the words lift, bend, crouch, stoop, kneel, ladder, or crawl in the description We found over 1,000 job ads over 4-month period The case went to trial and while the jury awarded pain and suffering damages, they awarded no economic damages because the accident did not prevent the plaintiff from performing work in his occupation 22

Summaries The following section summarizes 44 mitigation cases in which we used advertisement data and issued reports by: Type of complaint Outcome (where known) Primary occupation

23 Summaries The following section summarizes 44 mitigation cases in which we used advertisement data and issued reports by: Type of complaint Outcome (where known) Primary occupation of the plaintiff Geographic scope of the ad search area Projection made by plaintiff s expert of the length of time for front pay Issues or problems with the plaintiff s job search 23

24 Summaries: Types of Complaints Cases where ads where used and reports issued Type of Complaint Number of Cases* Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) discrimination 13 Disability discrimination 9 Retaliation including Whistleblower 9 Age discrimination 8 Race discrimination 6 Gender discrimination 5 Harassment 2 Religious discrimination 2 Violation of union rules or employment contract 2 Injury (auto) 1 Divorce 1 Unknown 2 *Includes cases listed in multiple types 24

25 Summaries: Outcomes Outcomes of Cases in which Advertisements were used in Evaluating Mitigation Efforts Outcome Number of Cases Case settled before trial 20 Case proceeded to trial 5 Arbitration 1 Case dismissed on summary judgment 1 Outcome unknown 17 25

26 Summaries: Primary Occupations Primary Occupations of Plaintiffs in Cases in which Advertisements were used in Evaluating Mitigation Efforts SOC Occupation Group Number of Cases Office and Administrative Support Occupations Sales and Related Occupations Management Occupations Production Occupations Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations Business and Financial Operations Occupations Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations Transportation and Material Moving Occupations 2 Other Occupations 6 26

27 Summaries: Geographic Search Area Geographic Search Area for Cases in which Advertisements were used in Evaluating Mitigation Efforts Search Area Number of Cases 1 City 1 1 County 4 2 to 5 Counties 11 6 to 10 Counties to 15 Counties 4 16 to 25 Counties 2 1 State 6 3 States 1 National Search 2 27

28 Summaries: Plaintiff s Expert s Projections Plaintiff s Expert s Projections in Cases in which Advertisements were used in Evaluating Mitigation Efforts Plaintiff Expert's Economic Projections Number of Cases Plaintiff will be unemployed until retirement age. 14 Years until Retirement: Less than 5 years 1 5 to 9 years 3 10 to 19 years 6 20 to 29 years 2 30 years or more 2 Plaintiff will be employed, but will always earn less than his or her salary while working for defendant. 6 Plaintiff will be unemployed for 3 to 7 years before employment is found. 4 Plaintiff did not provide an economic expert s report

29 Summaries: Job Search Issues Plaintiff s Job Search Issues in Cases in which Advertisements were used in Evaluating Mitigation Efforts Search Area Number of Cases Plaintiff applied to very few jobs. 11 Plaintiff provided no evidence of a job search. 9 Plaintiff found a lower paying job and stopped looking. 6 Plaintiff looked for jobs for which plaintiff was ineligible or outside of field. Plaintiff sent unsolicited resumes and did not apply to advertised positions. Plaintiff applied only to minimum number of jobs to collect unemployment benefits. Plaintiff had errors or other problems in cover letters or resume. Plaintiff did not actually submit applications, only made inquiries at a few locations

30 Mitigation Cases Using Alternative Data Sources Other sources besides aggregated historical online advertisement information can be used when analyzing the labor market in mitigation cases. Plaintiffs were non-native English speakers looking for cleaning jobs following their termination. There were very few traditional ads, but hundreds of opportunities were found advertised in local foreign language newspapers. Dun and Bradstreet counts of businesses were used together with BLS turnover data to estimate the number of openings for entry level workers. We compared terminated sales workers expert s projections of earnings to earnings of similarly situated workers still in the company. 30

Conclusion Wanted Technologies offers a historical source of help wanted ads in an electronic format. The database contains over a billion ads from 2005 to present.

31 Conclusion Wanted Technologies offers a historical source of help wanted ads in an electronic format. The database contains over a billion ads from 2005 to present. This data can be used in mitigation research, analysis of what employers offer in a specific occupation and labor market. The database contains current information, updated daily, coded, de-duplicated, and searchable by geographic area, occupation, key word, and many other attributes. The database has been used in over 40 litigation matters, and is used in leading economic indicators. 31

32 Any Questions? Forensic JobStats LLC 305 E Eisenhower Pkwy Suite 317 Ann Arbor, MI info@forensicjobstats.com Tel : Fax:

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