Under both state and federal law, employers must pay their employees for the hours they work and are prohibited from discriminating against employees and job applicants. However, whether it is due to implicit bias, putting profit before people, or intentional discrimination, tens of thousands of employees each year file employment lawsuits against their employers. According to a recent report, over nine percent of all employment litigation was initiated in Florida.

Workers who believe that their employer has violated their rights under state or federal law may be able to pursue an employment lawsuit against their employer. The goal of these cases is to right the wrongs committed by employers, and courts have broad discretion to fashion an appropriate remedy. For example, successful employees may recover damages that can include amounts for back pay, front pay, emotional distress, out-of-pocket expenses, and punitive damages. In some cases, the court will give a successful employee who was wrongfully terminated the option of getting their job back. Those interested in learning more about pursuing an employment claim should reach out to an employment discrimination attorney for assistance.

Nine Percent of Employment Litigation Occurs in Florida

Florida is split up into three federal districts: The Southern District of Florida, the Southern District of Florida, and the Middle District of Florida.

The Southern District of Florida serves Broward, Dade, Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Monroe, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie counties.

The Northern District of Florida contains Alachua, Bay, Calhoun, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington counties.

The Middle District of Florida serves Baker, Bradford, Brevard, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, De Soto, Duval, Flagler, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Nassau, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, St. Johns, Sarasota, Seminole, Sumter, Suwannee, Union, and Volusi counties.

In total, the three federal district courts in Florida serve the entire population of the state, which is currently approximately 21 million—or about six percent of the U.S. population. However, according to the 2023 Employment Litigation Report by Lex Machina, over the past three years, Florida has been disproportionately represented when it comes to employment discrimination cases and other types of employment litigation. In fact, over nine percent of all employment discrimination cases and other employment litigation took place in Florida.

Common Employment Law Cases in Florida District Courts

Federal law provides many protections for Florida workers. These protections include preventing workplace discrimination and ensuring fair pay for the hours worked. At its core, federal employment law demands employers make all reasonable efforts to ensure a safe working environment that provides fair compensation, regardless of workers’ individual differences. According to the 2023 Employment Litigation Report by Lex Machina, the most common employment law claims in the Florida district courts between 2022 and 2022 include the following:

Title VII Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) prohibits employers from engaging in unlawful discrimination, which is defined as discrimination that is based on a worker’s race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Of course, there are other protected traits that employers cannot rely on when making employment decisions, such as a worker’s age or pregnancy status, but they are protected through other federal laws, such as the Age Discrimination Act of 1967 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.

Employment discrimination claims under Title VII were one of the most common types of employment cases between 2020 and 2022, with discrimination based on race, color, sex and gender being the most frequently filed claim. For example, between 2020 and 2023, there were 2,022 race discrimination cases filed and 2,005 sex/gender discrimination claims filed.

Hostile Work Environment

The hostile work environment (“HWE”) doctrine recognizes that some workplaces can be so hostile towards certain employees that it amounts to discrimination. HWE claims are technically a type of Title VII discrimination; however, because they are unique from other sex discrimination claims, they are given their own category.

The thrust of a hostile work environment claim is that an employer created or allowed a work environment to exist that was so hostile to an employee that it amounted to unlawful discrimination. Many HWE cases involve allegations of sexual harassment; however, workers can bring hostile work environment claims based on other types of discriminatory conduct as well.

To prove a HWE claim, a worker must be able to establish 1.) a reasonable person would find the work environment hostile and 2.) the plaintiff subjectively perceived the environment as hostile. In this way, an individual employee’s subjective interpretation of the conduct is relevant but not dispositive, as there is still the question of whether an ordinary member of society would find the conduct hostile. For example, a heightened response to a minor, off-hand comment from a fellow employee or supervisor may not rise to the level of a hostile work environment.

Hostile work environment claims were also quite common between 2020 and 2022, with approximately 1,931 employees filing HWE claims.

Retaliation

The protections provided by Title VII and other federal laws would be meaningless if employers could deter aggrieved employees from reporting workplace violations by punishing them for doing so. This is where the retaliation doctrine comes into play; when an employee asserts their rights, an employer may not take any adverse employment action against them. In other words, federal employment laws prohibit employers from punishing workers for exercising their rights.

Retaliation claims cover a broad range of conduct; for example, an employer is prohibited from taking adverse action against a worker who engages in any of the following protected activities:

• Bringing workplace discrimination or other unlawful employment activity to light;
• Discussing their salary or hourly wage with other employees or asking supervisors about other employees’ pay;
• Filing an employment lawsuit against an employer;
• Protecting a fellow worker from unlawful employment practices;
• Refusing to follow a manager’s or supervisor’s directives that would cause another employee to experience discrimination;
• Requesting an accommodation for a religious reason or disability;
• Resisting the sexual advances of a fellow employee, manager, or supervisor;
• Responding to questions during an investigation into an employer’s alleged harassment or other unlawful employment conduct; and
• Testifying as a witness in an employment case or participating in an investigation or lawsuit.

Given the tremendous breadth of retaliation cases, it is no surprise that they were the most frequently filed claim between 2020 and 2022, with more than 4,170 employees bringing retaliation claims during this period.

What Companies Are Sued the Most for Employment Violations?

Employers have a legal obligation to respect their workers’ rights. However, some companies get named in employment lawsuits more often than others. Of course, large companies employ more people, and for this reason alone, one might expect larger companies to be named in employment lawsuits more often than smaller companies. At the same time, large companies have the greatest incentive to push the limit when it comes to questionable employment practices because they have the most to gain (and lose) from doing so.

That said, the following list of the most commonly sued employers isn’t suggesting that these companies treat their workers the worst, only that they were the companies that responded to the most employment lawsuits.

Below are the most common employer-defendants in employment cases filed between 2020 and 2022.

Walmart Inc.

With more than 2.1 million employees and over $611 billion in annual revenue, Walmart is the largest company in the United States by revenue. Given the company’s size, it probably doesn’t come as a shock to learn that Walmart faced more employment lawsuits than any other company. For example, between 2020 and 2022, more than 678 employees filed employment lawsuits against Walmart Inc. and its affiliates, Walmart Associates, Inc., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores East, LP.

United Parcel Service

United Parcel Service (“UPS”) is one of the three big package delivery services in the United States, employing roughly 500,000 people and bringing in more than $100 billion in revenue each year. Between 2020 and 2022, employees of UPS initiated 297 UPS employment lawsuits.

Amazon Services LLC

Amazon Services LLC is the company that owns e-commerce giant Amazon.com. Amazon maintains distribution sites and warehouses all over the country and employs upwards of 1.5 million people. Between 2020 and 2022, Amazon was named as a defendant in 207 employment claims.

Lowe’s Home Centers

Big-box home improvement retailer Lowes is the smallest company on the “most sued” list, with a total workforce of about 307,000 people and annual revenue of roughly $95 billion. Between 2020 and 2022, there were 190 Lowe’s employment lawsuits.

Workers who experience employment discrimination sexual harassment, or are not paid their fair wages are entitled to justice. One way of righting employers’ wrongs is to pursue an employment lawsuit against them. If successful, this can result in workers receiving significant damages, which may include back pay, front pay, reinstatement, and, in some cases, compensation for emotional distress. However, it is important to recognize that employers rarely accept responsibility for their suspect actions and go to great lengths to avoid being found liable. Thus, to ensure claims are given the attention they deserve, it is recommended to work with an experienced Florida employment lawyer.