With statistics from the CHRO lacking, it’s hard to get a judge on whether claims of discrimination in Connecticut are rising or falling. The EEOC released new statistics this week, however that shed a little bit of light on the subject, albeit with a fairly small sample size. For FY 2011, the EEOC reported that… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: statistics”
Connecticut Supreme Court Stakes Out “Similarly Situated” and Statistical Standards
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationAs we continue the analysis of this week’s Connecticut Supreme Court decisions, the court also clarified how employees can prove their claims of discrimination in Perez-Dickson v. City of Bridgeport. It is the first opinion in some years to do so and employers (and practitioners) will likely want to cite this case on a going-forward… Continue Reading
Numbers Show That Sexual Harassment Claims on the Decline
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & HarassmentDid he or didn’t he? That’s what political pundits and others have been debating the last few weeks regarding presidential candidate Herman Cain. But a more interesting question is whether claims of sexual harassment are on the rise or not. Indeed, lost in the public discourse is a fact that isn’t talked about a lot:… Continue Reading
BREAKING: Supreme Court Rejects Class Action Against Wal-Mart
Posted in Class Actions, Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationBack in March, I reported on the likelihood of a victory for Wal-Mart in an important class action case up at the U.S. Supreme Court. This morning, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the class action against the nation’s largest employer, saying, in essence, that the women who were bringing the sex discrimination charges would have… Continue Reading
Court: Department of Corrections’ Physical Fitness Test Discriminates Against Women
Posted in Class Actions, Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, LitigationLast week, a federal district court in Connecticut held that the Department of Corrections violated federal law in instituting a discriminatory physical fitness test that created a disparate impact on women. It also found that the test was not job-related or necessary. In doing so, the court granted summary judgment to the employee and… Continue Reading
Courant Headline Says Unions Down 17 Percent. Really? Uh, No.
Posted in Human Resources (HR) ComplianceUPDATED 2 p.m. About five weeks ago, I wrote about the new Bureau of Labor Statistics report that showed union membership and representation was down in Connecticut in 2010 from 17.1 percent of the overall workforce to 16.7, or in raw numbers from 265,000 workers to 258,000. But I also noted that compared with 2007 (when… Continue Reading
Unions are a Dying Breed. Or They’re Making a Comeback.
Posted in Human Resources (HR) ComplianceAnother day, another statistical report from the Department of Labor. (Though in fairness to the DOL, it has a whole office addressed to labor statistics (BLS), so of course we’re going to get a lot of stats. The latest is its annual release of data showing union membership. I first wrote about that data three… Continue Reading
It’s Snow Joke: EEOC Statistics Show Increasing Numbers of Retaliation Cases Filed, But Then What?
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Human Resources (HR) ComplianceNews flash: Record snows in Connecticut! Second news flash: Record numbers of people are out of work and filing complaints of discrimination at the EEOC nationwide! Here’s the thing with both news flashes: They’re not entirely unexpected. Sure, they’re in higher amounts than we’re accustomed to seeing, but both can be explained. (I’ll leave it… Continue Reading
The Gender Wage Gap: If Employment Discrimination Isn’t the Reason, What Is?
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Legislative DevelopmentsWhile Huey Lewis may croon about "The Power of Love", I choose to praise "The Power of the Internet" today. Case in point: On Friday, the Hartford Courant came out with a provocatively titled article: "Gender Wage Gap in Connecticut is Higher Than National Average." The article raised a lot more questions than it answered and… Continue Reading
A Look at the Statistics of Civil Cases Filed at Connecticut Superior Court
Posted in LitigationPop quiz time. Over the last 18 years, has the number of claims filed at the Superior Court level in Connecticut has: a) Gone up; b) Stayed the same; c) Gone down If you answered "a", congratulations. The number of cases filed has gone from 57,620 in 1992-93 to 78,275 in 2009-2010. Many people believe… Continue Reading
Employment Discrimination Complaints at CHRO Up Slightly in 2009-2010
Posted in CHRO & EEOCThe conventional wisdom in a down economy is that employment discrimination claims will skyrocket. While there have been some indications of that at a national level, the numbers in Connecticut tell a very different story. The state agency in Connecticut responsible for investigating discrimination complaints recently released its annual report (download here) for the fiscal… Continue Reading
Research: Employment Discrimination Cases Often Result in Only Small Victories for Some Employees
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & HarassmentAt the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Friday, there was a terrific panel discussion by various researchers who have been looking at discrimination cases brought at both the EEOC and in federal courts. The program was based on two academic articles over the last few years: One was written by Laura Beth Nielsen, Robert… Continue Reading
Another Look at the Statistics Supporting the Paycheck Fairness Act (And Why Mark Twain Would’ve Chimed in)
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Legislative Developments, Wage & Hour– There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics —– Mark Twain Given that Mark Twain is one of Hartford’s most famous residents (now "celebrating" 100 years since his death), it seems appropriate to invoke another one of his famous sayings. Time and again, statistics keep getting raised to the forefront… Continue Reading
Privileged Gender Disparity Memo to Wal-Mart’s Attorneys Leaked to NY Times; What About the Self-Critical Analysis Privilege?
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationToday, The New York Times reported on a privileged memo sent to Wal-Mart from its outside lawfirm back in 1995 that "found widespread gender disparities in pay and promotion at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores and urged the company to take basic steps — like posting every job opening and creating specific goals to promote… Continue Reading
The Reality of Federal Court Statistics On Wage/Hour Claims and the Perception
Posted in LitigationIn this week’s Connecticut Law Tribune, there’s a story about how the U.S. Department of Labor is hiring 250 more investigators and what this potentially means for wage/hour suits in Connecticut. The gist of the story is that employers should not surprised if there’s an increased focus on such claims. I happen to be quoted… Continue Reading
CHRO Annual Report Shows Surprising Drop in Complaints Filed
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & HarassmentWith the local economy suffering the effects of the economic recession, the prevailing wisdom of experts has been that the number of discrimination claims filed would continue to skyrocket. However, as I’ve pointed out before, we just haven’t seen that trend in Connecticut play out. New data just released by the Connecticut Commission on Human… Continue Reading
EEOC Reports Record Number of Discrimination Claims for 2008; Up 15 Percent from 2007
Posted in CHRO & EEOCRecord numbers of discrimination complaints were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to a MSNBC column: Discrimination claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission jumped 15 percent in fiscal 2008 to 95,402 — the highest level since the agency opened in 1965, said spokesman David Grinberg. That is up from 82,792 claims filed… Continue Reading
Federal District Court of Connecticut Statistics for 2008 Show Some Surprises
Posted in LitigationTime for a few multiple-choice questions: 1. In the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, the number of cases filed in federal court in Connecticut was: a) up significantly over 2007; b) about the same as 2007; c) markedly down from 2007. 2. Since 2003, the number of cases filed and pending in the federal… Continue Reading
Numbers Galore, Part II: Seven Full-time CHRO Human Rights Referees for Six Referee Decisions
Posted in CHRO & EEOCAS UPDATED (9/9) Last week, I posted about the statistics released by the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. (You can view the CHRO’s Annual Report here.) Today, I continue to take a look behind the numbers and the implications for employers in Connecticut. Among the most striking of the statistics is this fact: Human Rights Referees… Continue Reading
Numbers Galore: CHRO Statistics Reveal Interesting Trends – Part I
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & HarassmentLast week, I publicized the release of federal court statistics; that story has now been picked up by the American Lawyer which crunches the numbers in more detail. But now you can break out your abacus again. The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities has also just released their annual report (available for download here) which… Continue Reading
Lawsuit to be Filed over State Police Hiring Practices; A Primer on Disparate Impact Theory
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Class Actions, Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, LitigationAttorney John Williams is well-known in this state for his avid representation of various state workers — particularly state police officials — in discrimination matters. Yesterday, he held a press conference to announce that he will be filing a class action lawsuit in a few weeks challenging the hiring procedures of the Connecticut State Police. The Hartford… Continue Reading
Are Unions Dying Off? Not Yet, Say New U.S. Department of Labor Statistics
Posted in Human Resources (HR) ComplianceAre unions are dying breed? The answer to that question often depends on your perspective. As we’ve seen in Connecticut, if unions are "dying", they are not going down without a fight. But statistics just released by the U.S. Department of Labor tell a more complete story. The statistics show a leveling off of the decline in… Continue Reading
CHRO Should Be Rebuilt, Says Courant Columnist and Others
Posted in CHRO & EEOCLast week, I posted about a working group that Governor Rell had formed to review the workings of the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO). Today, Hartford Courant columnist Stan Simpson has an interesting column on the same subject. It’s worth a read. It discussed the ongoing backlog of complaint and the issues that the agency has… Continue Reading
CHRO Annual Report Shows Less Discrimination Cases Being Filed
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & HarassmentThe CHRO has issued its Annual report ending for the fiscal year June 30, 2007, and made it available for public viewing. Its full of statistics that show trends in the workplace; such information is particularly useful for human resources personnel and in-house counsel. What does it show? Employment claims are down nearly 20 percent… Continue Reading
About Daniel Schwartz
Trusted advisor. Experienced employment law attorney. Bar leader. Award-winning author. Noted Speaker. "Legal Rebel". All can be said to be apt descriptions of Daniel Schwartz, a member of Pullman & Comley. More +
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