California and Arizona show large numbers of discrimination and retaliation cases
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency tasked with enforcing certain employment laws, including those related to discrimination in the workplace. After consultation with a skilled employment discrimination attorney, employees who believe that they have been illegally discriminated or retaliated against by their employers must either file a complaint with their state agency or the EEOC as an initial step. These agencies will then decide whether to prosecute the matter. If they decline, then an employee can file a lawsuit through his or her employment discrimination attorney.
Recently, the EEOC released its 2017 statistics for the numbers of claims filed by state. While these statistics do not reveal how cases were resolved, they do show certain patterns of the type of workplace complaints that are most frequently seen in certain states — and what types of discrimination seems to be more common in certain areas.
PLBH has offices in both California and Arizona, helping employees get justice for workplace discrimination and retaliation in both states. That is why the similarities of EEOC charges in these states was of particular interest to us. Unsurprisingly, as one of the most populous states in the country, California had a high number of EEOC charges filed: 5,423 in 2017 alone. In contrast, Arizona had just 1,988.
In both California and Arizona, retaliation was an incredibly common charge. Californians filed 2,752 retaliation charges in 2017, which is 50.7% of all charges filed. Arizonans filed 959 retaliation charges in 2017, which is 48.2% of all charges filed. The majority of these retaliate charges (2,051 in California and 680 in Arizona) were based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which means that they were based on some type of discrimination, such as age, disability or national origin.
In California, discrimination based on race was the next common type of charge, with 1,811 charges filed. Sex-based discrimination was the next most common type of charge filed at 1,500 charges, followed by national origin (786), religion (270) and color (190). In Arizona, discrimination charges based on sex were the most common charges filed at 656, followed by race at 437. The other common types of discrimination charges filed in Arizona in 2017 included national original (264), religion (94), and color (55).
These numbers show that workplace discrimination and retaliation based on discriminatory conduct continue to be a major problem in California and Arizona. Having a seasoned employment discrimination attorney can help to level the playing field, ensuring that you have someone on your side to fight for justice. If you have been treated unfairly in the workplace, and subject to discrimination or retaliation, a lawyer can advise you of your rights and help you determine if you have a viable case for filing with a state agency or the EEOC.
At PLBSM, our employment discrimination attorneys have more than 50 years of experience helping workers get the compensation that they deserve for the damages that they have suffered as a result of discrimination and retaliation. Contact us today at (800) 435-7542 or info@plblaw.com to learn more about how we can help you.