Massachusetts Employment Law Blog

By: Robert M. Shea

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has just released its statistics for fiscal year 2014 and for the fifth straight year charges alleging unlawful retaliation by employers was the leading type of discrimination alleged.  Retaliation claims accounted for 42.8% of the charges filed with the EEOC, up almost two percent from 2013 to the highest percentage ever.  Retaliation was followed by race discrimination (35%), gender, including sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination (29.3%), disability discrimination (28.6%), and age discrimination (23.2%).  The EEOC’s enforcement and litigation statistics for FY 1997 through 2014 are found here.

For an explanation of why retaliation claims have become so common, and guidance on steps employers should take to avoid claims, please refer to this March 2013 article.

Please contact the Employment Law team for more information.