Northern California Employment Law Blog

Older workers are at risk of losing their jobs during any time of the year, but some seasons have certain disadvantages over others. Even though you can’t always expect your employer to fire you around certain months, you can pay attention to certain signs or trends that pop up during these periods that could foreshadow your exit.

Summer is a season where many older workers find themselves vulnerable in front of their employer in one way or another. As the temperatures continue to rise in California, it is important to know why so many employees over 50 may end up losing their jobs within the next few months.

While people might not think of it when they hear about employment discrimination, it is an unfortunate reality that many members of the armed forces, such as the National Guard the Reserves, may find it very difficult to keep and hold a civilian job on account of their military service.

After all, while employers may pay lip serve to patriotism and doing one's civic duty, the reality is that an employee who has military obligations, especially if they are called to active duty, may be wrongly perceived as a burden on an employer. As such, a California man or woman may return home from service to find that he or she no longer has a job or, at best, is going to face some very difficult circumstances at work.

Retail and online shopping industries are often seen as the most common culprits when it comes to work discrimination. You’ll frequently see some of the larger names in the news such as Walmart in a controversial court case at least once every month. Despite the heavy criticisms these companies receive and their vows to maintain a safe workplace, it can be difficult to hold them to their word considering how many buildings they have around the country and the number of workers within them.

The online shopping company Amazon has faced several controversies for their working environment within the last decade. Many current and former workers have cited inhumane conditions and disrespectful employers during their time operating there. The newest addition to their long list of criticisms was recently highlighted on a CNET article, where former employees that were pregnant spoke about how difficult their employers made it for them.

A previous post on this blog discussed how thousands of people across the country, including in California, file pregnancy discrimination claims with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) every year. The EEOC is a federal agency charged with enforcing the federal laws prohibiting various types of employment discrimination, including pregnancy discrimination. To update the previous post, the number of pregnancy discrimination claims filed with the EEOC are now finalized and available for the fiscal year 2018.

The volume of new claims dropped somewhat, from 3,174 in 2017 down to 2,790 in 2018. On the other hand, the total amount of payments collected on behalf of employees rose, from $15.0 million in 2017 to $16.6 million in 2018, an increase of about 10%.