My Attorney Wants to Hire an Economist - Is That Necessary?

It can be. In our case, the women worked on salary, a draw, and commissions, and the sales market changed over the past 3 years, therefore it was important to get a professional determination on the loss of back pay and future pay.

It took me about 6 hours to gather the information and comprise a letter. We were asked to submit our w-2's and 1099's for four years prior to our time with the company, those received during our time with the company, and for the years following our terminations (July 30, 2007 will mark the 3rd anniversary of my termination). We were also asked to compile a list of benefits and the amount that the company provided (401K, insurance, pension, etc) as well as any benefits received since our termination.

The economist also needed our birthdates and wanted to know when we are planning on retiring (to determine future pay). You can find out your full retirement age by logging on to the Social Security Administration office at http://www.ssa.gov/retirechartred.htm. If you were born after 1960, your full retirement age is 67.

I will post my letter to the economist on the website soon (www.womandiscrimination.com)

The services of our economist are being billed to our attorneys at $1,500 per report (each woman will have her own) plus $200/hr for trial and deposition testimony. These fees, I'm told, are quite reasonable. We will probably get a bill for this soon as this is not covered by the contingency arrangement we have with our attorneys.