As 2014 fades away in our rearview mirrors, with such headlines as Ferguson, Mo., Eric Garner and Bill Cosby, what can we learn from these matters, and what message are they sending concerning the types of employment claims we can expect in 2015?

Discrimination

Clearly, issues involving race, sadly, are still part of the judicial landscape, and we should expect to see the continuation of a large percentage of EEOC charges involving race. It still comprises the largest percentage of discrimination charges filed with that agency, and it even increased from 33.7 percent for fiscal year 2012, to 35.3 percent for fiscal year 2013. Likewise, sexual harassment and sex discrimination charges have remained constant at about 30 percent of all EEOC charges. So long as companies have men and women in the workplace, it is easy to predict that these claims will remain prevalent. Other clear trends are with regard to retaliation and disability discrimination. For each of the past nine years, retaliation charges consistently have grown, from 27 percent of all EEOC charges in fiscal year 2002, to over 41 percent of all charges in fiscal year 2013. Similarly, in each of the past five fiscal years the percentage of disability discrimination charges has risen. We don’t expect to see a downturn in 2015.

Wage-and-Hour Litigation

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]