What forms of discrimination are most typically litigated?
Most non-harassment discrimination cases fall into one of four categories: (1) individual “disparate treatment” cases in which an employee claims that an employer treated the employee less favorably than other employees because of race, religion, age, sex, etc.; (2) retaliation cases in which the employee claims that the employer retaliated against the employee for opposing discrimination practices; (3) “disparate impact” or “adverse impact” cases in which employee claims that the employer’s employment practice has an unfavorable impact on a protected class of employees; (4) cases involving a class-wide pattern or practice of systemic disparate treatment where a plaintiff shows a statistical difference between protected class members and similarly qualified members of the majority group.
