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Business · February 14, 2020

Employment Discrimination Cases Are Rising Quickly, Why?

Employment discrimination is happening every day. Even though it is not legal, many employers disregard the fact and continue to discriminate against their employees. 

There are several common types of workplace discrimination. They are based on one’s:

  • Ethnicity
  • Sex
  • Age
  • Gender
  • National origin
  • Skin color
  • Accent
  • Political views
  • Marital status
  • Disability
  • Pregnancy

In addition, many employers will retaliate against their employees. These retaliations end up with:

  • Termination
  • Denial of promotion, sick leave, paid leave, additional working hours
  • Unpaid wages

According to Los Angeles Employment Law Lawyers, employment discrimination lawsuits are on the rise. Here are the reasons why this is happening.

The Statistics

According to the data gathered by the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), the number of employment discrimination lawsuits has been on the rise for the past several years. Every year, there are:

  • 42,000 retaliation charges
  • 33,000 race-based discrimination charges
  • 28,000 disability-based discrimination charges
  • 27,000 sex-based discrimination charges
  • 21,000 age-based discrimination charges
  • 10,000 national origin-based discrimination charges
  • 4,000 religion-based discrimination charges
  • 3,000 color-based discrimination charges

This goes to show how many people are discriminated against. These numbers increase each year, for several different reasons. There are four main reasons why there have been so many employment discrimination cases over recent years.

Increased Awareness

When people do not know that something is illegal, they will not act against it. However, the moment they find out that they have rights that protect them against illegal activities, they will start acting differently. 

As many employers provide their employees with different training programs (designed to prevent harassment and discrimination in the workplace), people recognize the problem and whether or not they have faced it in the past. Additionally, they are able to react to any new potential cases of discrimination or harassment and stop it before it escalates.

There have been many cases where an employee realized through training that they have been a victim of discrimination in the past. With that knowledge, that employee helped prevent any future harassment or discrimination and acted immediately at first sight of it.

You should do the same; if you experience even the slightest discrimination or harassment in the workplace, act immediately and get legal help. Call our Employment Lawyers in Los Angeles and schedule an initial consultation (completely free of charge or legal obligations) to learn what you should do next and how you can protect yourself from any future discrimination, harassment or retaliation in the workplace.

Increased Coverage

As more and more people start learning about and reporting discrimination in the workplace, even more people will read about it in the news, articles, and forums. 

Facts: In 2017, the “New York Times” had over 1650 articles with the word “discrimination” in them. And even though most of them were not about employment discrimination, it helped raise awareness. At the same time, the “Washington Post” had over 2000 articles in the same time period, with some of the most noted titles being:

  • “Lawsuit: Sam’s Club discriminated against transgender worker”
  • “Missouri prison worker wins $1.5 in discrimination lawsuit”
  • “ A constitutional Right to Discriminate?”

California is no different than any other state in terms of protecting its employees from discrimination. There are many articles and news titles that help raise awareness of employment discrimination. 

Discrimination occurs everywhere, and whether you see it or not, it is there, right in front of your eyes. Some people realize that they are being discriminated against, and others do not. It is important to act as quickly as possible at the first sign of discrimination in the workplace. Be sure to call an attorney as quickly as you can, so that you can start the process and file a claim against your employer. If you do not have an attorney on speed dial, our Los Angeles Employment Lawyers will gladly answer your call. 

The Impact of Social Media

Another important factor that contributed to the rise of employment discrimination cases is social media. Nowadays, you can write a simple tweet, and that tweet could go viral. People usually love to share “call to help” tweets, and will always help someone in need. That is how a simple “I have a problem, what should I do if I am being discriminated against by my employer?” tweet or post could get shared and seen by tens of thousands of people in just a matter of days. And before you know it, you will get media coverage and offers from different attorneys to help protect you against workplace discrimination. 

Social media plays an important role in our lives. Almost everything can be found online today, which may encourage people to feel like they are not alone, and give them that much-needed confidence to seek help and make a change.

Retaliation

The fourth and the last reason why there have been so many employment discrimination claims lately is retaliation. Because employees have started to report all types of discrimination in the workplace, employers have started taking illegal actions against those employees. Some of those actions include:

  • Refusing to pay their wages
  • Denying them a promotion
  • Changing their working hours and shifts
  • Denying them a (paid) leave
  • Termination

Even though most trained employees know how to deal with employment discrimination, they still do not know how to deal with retaliation. For those of you who are unsure what to do, you have every right to, assuming that you are a victim of one of the above-mentioned situations, file a claim against your employer and seek compensation. To do so, you will require legal help and guidance.

That is where Employment Lawyers in Los Angeles come into play; with their expertise and knowledge of the employment law, they will help you file a successful claim in a timely manner, and guide you through the process. Feel free to call today or visit our offices, and schedule a consultation with one of our available attorneys. Remember that your best chance of getting the compensation that you deserve is contacting an employment attorney.