Employment Discrimination Cases Face Uphill Battle in Federal Courts

If you are a victim of employment discrimination, your case is more likely to be dismissed compared with other types of cases, and your chances of winning in court are slim, according to recent studies.

Between 1979 and 2006, plaintiffs in federal cases won 15 percent of employment discrimination cases. In comparison, the success rate was 51 percent in all other civil cases. Even when plaintiffs in these cases do win in court, the decision is reversed on appeal over 41 percent of the time.

These statistics can be attributed to a range of issues such as the lack of minority judges on federal courts and the difficulty in proving employment discrimination, which is often covert.

The recent passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will give employees a wider window of time in which they are permitted to challenge pay discrimination, but they will likely still face a tough time in court.