State and federal laws impose a duty on employers to respect employees’ rights and provide them with certain benefits. However, because employment disputes often involve a mix of state and federal claims, most of these cases are filed in federal court. According to a recent report that looks at the past three years of employment litigation across all United States District Courts in the county, five percent of all claims were filed in the Central District of California.

By understanding recent trends in employment law, employees can gain a better understanding of the types of claims being filed and what claims have the best chance of success. This can help an employee develop an effective strategy when working with their employment attorney. In this piece, we will discuss the most common employment lawsuits in the Central District of California, as well as which companies are most frequently named as defendants.

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.

The Central District of California Sees More Employment Discrimination Cases Than Anywhere Else in the Country

The Central District of California is the largest federal district in the United States, serving more than 19 million people in all five counties that make up the Greater Los Angeles area: Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.

Given the number of people living and working in the Central District of California, one would expect there to be a sizable number of employment law cases. Indeed, according to a 2023 Employment Litigation Report by Lex Machina, between 2020 and 2022, 20,994 employment cases were filed in federal district courts. Of these, roughly five percent, or 3,370 cases, were filed in the Central District of California.

Common Employment Disputes in the Central District of California

Federal law contains many protections for workers, ranging from those designed to keep discrimination out of the workplace to those that ensure employers pay their employees a fair wage for the hours they work. At their core, employment laws are designed to ensure a safe working environment that provides for fair compensation, regardless of workers’ individual differences. 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, more commonly referred to simply as “Title VII,” prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. While there are other protected traits that employers cannot base an employment decision on, such as age, 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

A hostile work environment (“HWE”) claim technically falls under Title VII; however, because these claims are different from many other sex discrimination claims, they are often considered separately. 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. 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. In this way, an individual employee’s subjective interpretation of the conduct is not relevant, as the question is whether an ordinary member of society would find the conduct 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

When an employee asserts their rights, the employer may not take any type of employment action against them. In other words, federal employment laws prohibit employers from asserting their rights, which is referred to as retaliation. The scope of protected activity is broad, and employers cannot initiate any adverse employment actions based on a worker who engaged in any of the following protected activities:

• Bringing alleged discrimination to the attention of a supervisor or manager;
• Discussing salaries with fellow employees or asking management about other workers’ salaries to uncover potentially discriminatory wages.
• Filing an employment lawsuit against an employer;
• Intervening to protect another worker from unlawful employment practices;
• Refusing to follow orders that would cause another employee to be discriminated against;
• Requesting a disability or religious accommodation;
• Resisting a fellow employees, manager’s, or supervisor’s sexual advances;
• Responding to questions during an investigation into an employer’s alleged harassment or other unlawful employment conduct; and
• Serving as a witness in an employment case, investigation, or lawsuit.

Given the breadth of these cases, retaliation claims were the most common type of employment lawsuit filed between 2020 and 2022, representing 4,170 cases.

What Companies Are Sued the Most for Employment Violations?

All companies must respect their employee’s rights. However, 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, large companies employ more people, and it stands to reason that, by virtue of this fact alone, they will be named in employment lawsuits more often than smaller companies. However, it could also be argued that larger companies have the most incentive to push the limit when it comes to suspect employment practices because they have the most to gain from doing so. That said, this list shouldn’t be read to imply 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 fired or otherwise retaliated against for asserting their rights, 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 Central District of California employment lawyer.