Census data released yesterday indicates that Blacks and Hispanics are starting to fall further behind whites in pursuing higher-paying jobs, reports the AP. Indeed the discrepancies appear to be the “largest rates in about a decade” and are perhaps due in part to the tough economony as one demographer explained, “[t]he lesson of most economic downturns is minorities are the last hired, first fired. They lose jobs more quickly, and they will be the last to recover.”

Here are just a couple of the key figures highlighted in the AP piece:

According to a demographer for the Population Reference Bureau, Mark Mather, the statistics “highlight some of the barriers for minorities”. He went on to indicate that “the pay disparities could widen further since blacks and Hispanics tend to be relative latecomers to the professional world and thus more vulnerable to layoffs in the current recession.”

  • Hispanics with bachelor’s degrees got $44,696 or about (75% of whites)

First off, employees who work for small employers, may simply have no choice but to rely on common law state claims. Only employers with 15 or more employees are covered by Title VII and the ADA. Further, federal age discrimination laws only apply to employers with 20 or more employees. However, notably, federal equal pay laws do apply to virtually all employers. Another thing to take not of is that more stringent deadlines usually apply to statutory claims, and common law claims may provide a fallback should this be an issue.

Assuming an employer’s size and timeliness are not at issue, employees looking to speed their cases into court may also benefit from relying solely on common-law claims. The reason is that some federal and state anti-discrimination statutes require claimants to file a complaint with a government agency, for the agency to investigate the matter. As with most things governmental, such investigations usually take a substantial period of time. Last, but not least, common law actions may also be able to offer employees a greater degree of compensation for injuries in discrimination cases.

One of the main disadvantages of common law suits is that they might not be as strong as some federal or, particularly, state laws. Additionally, unlike civil rights laws that are generally designed specifically with discrimination in mind, sometimes such cases don’t fall neatly into one type of common law suit. This results in varying degrees of uncertainty when bringing common law cases.

  • AP: Racial disparities persist in higher-paying jobs (FindLaw)
  • Texas Supreme Court Narrows The Gap On Emotional Distress Claims (FindLaw)
  • Employers And Other Entities Covered By EEO Laws (EEOC)
  • Discrimination Center (provided by The Law Office of Marc Mezibov)
  • Employee Rights: Equal Pay Discrimination (FindLaw)
  • Discrimination & Harassment (FindLaw)

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