Avery v. TEKSYSTEMS

Background

Following a further case-management conference held on March 4, 2026, the court issued Pretrial Order No. 4, revising the case schedule. The opinion states that the court had certified a class consisting of all current and former Recruiters employed by TEKSYSTEMS in California from January 28, 2019, through the final date of judgment. The court found that using the final date of judgment to define the class was unworkable. TEKSYSTEMS also noted that Recruiters hired after March 2025 are parties to mutual arbitration agreements.

Discovery and Class Definition

TEKSYSTEMS had previously produced payroll data, email metadata, Connected data, Microsoft Teams metadata, and expense-reimbursement data for class members who were not subject to TEKSYSTEMS’s motion to compel arbitration. The court ordered TEKSYSTEMS to supplement those productions by March 6, 2026, for:

- 123 class members who were subject to TEKSYSTEMS’s motion to compel arbitration; - 15 people identified by the plaintiffs as potential additional class members, subject to confirmation that they meet the certified class definition; and - Class members identified by the plaintiffs as potentially having gaps in Microsoft Teams chat data, email metadata, or Connected data, to the extent the information exists.

If TEKSYSTEMS contends that requested data does not exist, it must produce an affidavit explaining how it searched for the data. The parties were also ordered to meet and confer regarding additional discovery. The provided opinion text is incomplete at that point, but it states that the parties should submit a joint discovery letter by March 17, 2026.

The parties must meet and confer about an amended class definition and provide a joint update to the court by March 18, 2026.

Revised Schedule

The court set these additional deadlines:

- Affirmative expert disclosures and reports: August 21, 2026; - Rebuttal expert disclosures and reports: November 20, 2026; - Damages discovery deadline: December 11, 2026; - Expert discovery deadline: December 22, 2026; - Pretrial conference: April 15, 2027; and - Jury trial: May 3, 2027.

The court also set a further case-management conference for July 15, 2027, at 2:00 p.m. by Zoom. An updated statement, including the plaintiffs’ tentative proposed verdict form and initial trial plan, is due one week before that conference.

Disposition and Effect

Judge Jacquelyn Corley ordered the revised schedule. This order addresses discovery, class-definition discussions, and case-management deadlines; it does not decide the merits of the parties’ underlying claims.