Employers have a legal duty to ensure a safe, healthy workplace and to pay employees fairly for their work. This includes an obligation to treat employees fairly and respect their individual differences. When an employer’s actions run afoul of state or federal employment laws, workers—either individually or as a group in a class action—can sue their employers. Recently, a report reviewed the past three years of employment litigation across the United States, finding that a disproportionate number of these disputes arise out of the Eastern District of New York.

Workers who believe that their employer has violated federal law may be entitled to financial compensation, which may include 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.

Five Percent of All Employment Disputes Originate in the Eastern District of New York

The Eastern District of New York is one of the most populous areas in the United States, covering Nassau County, Suffolk County, Kings County (Brooklyn), Queens County, and Richmond County (Staten Island).

Home to approximately 8 million people, one would expect that a significant number of employment disputes would occur within the Eastern District of New York. Indeed, according to the 2023 Employment Litigation Report by Lex Machina, between 2020 and 2022, 20,994 employment cases were filed in the 94 federal district courts across the United States. The most employment cases were filed in New York, where there were over 7,000 cases filed. More than 3,200 of these were filed in the Eastern District of New York, which amounts to roughly five percent of the total number of employment lawsuits. Together, cases filed in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York made up nearly 11 percent of all employment-related cases filed in the United States.

Common EDNY Employment Lawsuits

Federal law provides workers with many protections, as well as various mechanisms to enforce their rights. In general, employment law is about ensuring a safe working environment that provides fair compensation for the work performed. Federal employment law also prevents employers from retaliating against workers who engage in protected activity, whether that be organizing a labor union, reporting sexual harassment, or voicing concerns over an employer’s failure to pay overtime wages. According to the 2023 Employment Litigation Report by Lex Machina, the most common employment law claims between 2022 and 2022 were:

Title VII Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevents employers from making decisions—including hiring, promoting or firing workers—based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. While there are other traits that employers are precluded from relying upon, they are protected by other federal laws.

Title VII discrimination claims were among the most common employment cases filed between 2020 and 2022, with discrimination based on race, color, sex and gender being the most frequently filed claim. For example, there were 2,022 race discrimination cases filed between 2022 and 2023 and 2,005 sex/gender discrimination claims filed during that same period.

Hostile Work Environment

Hostile work environment (“HWE”) claims arise when an employer creates or permits an atmosphere that is so hostile to a worker that it is equivalent to discrimination. Hostile work environment claims can be based on any protected characteristic, including race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Technically, these claims fall under Title VII; however, because they present unique considerations, they are often considered separately.

In a hostile work environment claim, the worker is claiming that the employer created or allowed a work environment that was so hostile to the worker that it was equivalent to discrimination. To prove an HWE claim, the plaintiff must show that a “reasonable person” would find the work environment hostile and that the plaintiff subjectively perceived the environment as hostile.

Hostile work environment claims were also very common, according to the 2023 Lex Machina Employment Litigation Report. For example, there were 1,931 HWE claims filed between 2020 and 2022 alone.

Retaliation

Federal employment laws prohibit employers from taking any adverse employment action against job applicants or employees for asserting their rights. This includes the right to be free from employment discrimination and to be paid a fair wage. When an employer punishes a worker for asserting their rights, it’s referred to as a retaliation claim. Employers cannot initiate any adverse employment actions based on a worker engaging in any of the following protected activities:

• Answering questions during an investigation into an employer’s alleged harassment;
• Discussing any concerns of discrimination with a supervisor or manager;
• Discussing salaries with co-workers or asking management about other workers’ salaries to uncover potentially discriminatory wages;
• Filing or participating as a witness in an employment case, investigation, or lawsuit;
• Intervening to protect others from unlawful employment practices;
• Refusing to follow orders that would result in discrimination against another employee;
• Requesting a disability or religious accommodation; and
• Resisting sexual advances.

Cases alleging unlawful employment retaliation were the single most common type of case filed between 2020 and 2022, with approximately 4,170 cases raising a retaliation claim.

The Most Frequently Sued Employers

All employers, regardless of their size or industry, must respect their employee’s rights. However, whether it is due to the number of employees or the organization’s employment practices, some companies are sued by their employees more often than others. Below are the most common employer-defendants in employment cases filed between 2020 and 2022.

Walmart Inc.

Walmart has more than 2.1 million employees and brings in over $611 billion in annual revenue. For that reason alone, it’s no surprise that Walmart employment lawsuits topped the list. Between 2020 and 2022, more than 678 employees filed employment lawsuits against Walmart Inc. and Walmart Associates, Inc., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores East, LP.

United Parcel Service

United Parcel Service, more commonly known as UPS, has roughly 500,000 employees and generates over $100 billion in revenue each year. During the period between 2020 and 2022, there were 297 UPS employment lawsuits.

Amazon Services LLC

Amazon Services LLC, the company that owns Amazon.com, faced a significant number of employment law claims as well. With warehouses all over the country and a workforce of over 1.5 million, Amazon responded to 207 employment claims between 2020 and 2022.

Lowe’s Home Centers

Big-box retailer Lowes is also a major employer in many states, with a total workforce of more than 307,000 people. While that’s a significant number of employees, Lowes is much smaller than many other companies on this list, making the fact that there were 190 Lowe’s employment lawsuits between 2020 and 2022 significant.

Certainly, larger companies have more employees and, therefore, are more likely to appear on the list of the most sued employers. However, it could also be argued that larger companies have the most incentive to push the limit when it comes to questionable employment practices because they have the most to gain from doing so. That said, this list shouldn’t be read to mean that these companies committed the most employment violations; only that they were the companies that responded to the most employment lawsuits.

Those who have experienced employment discrimination or sexual harassment at work, as well as those who have been retaliated against for bringing unfair employment practices to light, can pursue an employment lawsuit against their employer. 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 EDNY employment lawyer.