Oakland Employment Law Blog

A survey by online company review site Glassdoor indicates that 61% of employees in California and across the country have experienced or witnessed discriminatory behavior in the workplace. The study included more than 1,100 employees and asked about discrimination that was based on gender, race, LGBTQ identification or age. Nationwide, 42% of those who responded said they had witnessed racism at work, and 45% said they'd witnessed discrimination based on age.

Breaking down the data further, male employees in the U.S. are more likely than female employees to experience or witness discrimination in the workplace. Fifty percent of the men who responded said they'd experienced or witnessed age discrimination, compared to 38% of women. Thirty-eight percent of men said they'd experienced or witnessed discrimination based on LGBTQ identification, compared to only 28% of women. Additionally, younger employees are more likely to have experiences of discriminatory behavior at work, with more than half of workers between 18 and 34 years old saying they've seen gender discrimination occur. For workers aged 55 years or older, that percentage was 29%.

The definition of sex discrimination has become a significant legal issue in California courts and those across the country. Many federal appeals courts have upheld an understanding of sex discrimination that also prohibits discriminating against LGBT workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. However, the Trump administration's Justice Department and other legal authorities disagree, and the Supreme Court is hearing several cases on the matter. However, traditional sex discrimination cases continue to reflect major problems experienced by women workers across the country.

High-profile sexual harassment cases in entertainment, politics and technology have drawn some attention to the hardships that women continue to face on the job despite decades of civil rights legislation and many significant cases upholding women's rights at work. However, women may face a wide range of issues that are not limited to unwanted sexual advances at work. Many of these claims never even reach a formal complaint, let alone go to court. Workers who are not represented often fear that they will be subject to retaliation if they complain, and their fears are far from unfounded. Those workers who do pursue claims need to confront changes to the legal process in the past 10 years that put more obstacles in front of employees fighting workplace discrimination.

Ideally, employees in California and throughout the country would not hesitate to report instances of harassment and discrimination to their employers. However, this is typically not the case at Google as workers there say that they were retaliated against after filing complaints with HR. Employees said that they were taken off of projects or reassigned elsewhere in the company. A memo said that the company generally chose to hide sexual harassment complaints when they involved members of the management team.

In November 2018, roughly 20,000 employees took part in a walkout to protest its handling of executives accused of sexual assault. Prior to the walkout, it had been revealed that those executives had been paid more than $100 million. In response, Google said that it would make changes to its sexual harassment reporting policies and show greater support for those who reported it.

Women in the workplace are far more likely to suffer from sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination and other types of gender discrimination in California. However, there are also unique concerns that are particularly important for men in the workplace. Age discrimination is one such concern that has a stronger effect on men. According to one 2019 study of age-related discrimination in the workplace, less than 33% of women believed that their age was a factor in holding them back from finding new jobs or obtaining a promotion. On the other hand, almost 40% of male participants did indicate that age was a barrier for them in the workplace.

In total, around 20% of all workers over 40 said that they had experienced some form of age discrimination on the job. In addition, many reported that there was little or no coverage given to age discrimination in company training about avoiding bias in the workplace. The younger respondents feared that the situation would worsen after the age of 50. However, 67% of the respondents under 65 said that they planned to keep working after they turn 66.