A recent revelation from a government office shows the financial costs associated with workplace lawsuits. The House Office of Compliance released documents that gave details about employment discrimination settlements between the years of 2008 and 2012. California residents may be surprised to learn about the cases that have led to the dissemination of so many taxpayer dollars.
In the four-year span covered by the recent report, the House has paid over $300,000 to workers in discrimination lawsuits. Furthermore, this sum does not cover the entirety of the money paid to employees, as some of the payouts come from private congressional budgets, not from the public funds. The increased number of incidents has led to recent policy changes at the House, including harassment training. Bills have been introduced that would require House members to pay back any settlements paid from taxpayer funds, and that would eliminate mandatory confidentiality clauses.
Covering a range of discrimination and harassment, the report revealed some of the information about the cases but neglected to give names of the accused or accusers. At least eight sexual harassment cases were settled. One other case dealt with age and race discrimination with retaliation. Each case was settled in the tens of thousands of dollars for the plaintiffs involved.
In California, as in federal government, employment discrimination is illegal. A person who has been the victim of such discrimination may be eligible to receive awards for damages. Many people have chosen to rely on the help of an experienced employment law attorney to get them the desired result in their discrimination cases.
Source: spectrumlocalnews.com, “House paid over $300K in workplace discrimination disputes“, Dec. 19, 2017