Lessons in Losing: Race Discrimination in Employment

67 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2005 Last revised: 8 May 2009

See all articles by Wendy Parker

Wendy Parker

Wake Forest University - School of Law

Date Written: February 1, 2005

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive, national examination of race and national origin employment discrimination lawsuits. Through empirical studies of 661 such cases, it discovers something previously not reported. While employment discrimination litigation is widely known for its lopsided outcomes - defendants overwhelmingly prevail - it turns out that race and national origin cases are even harder for plaintiffs to win in federal district court than other types of employment discrimination claims. In revealing that race and national origin cases are harder for plaintiffs to settle and easier for defendants to win on a pretrial motion, this Article identifies what it terms an anti-plaintiff ideology in race and national origin litigation. Through an examination of this anti-plaintiff ideology, the author attempts to shift the current debate over judicial decision making in employment discrimination litigation to one recognizing that courts do more than defer to defendants in race and national origin cases and are more than unable to prohibit subtle discrimination. Instead, courts appear to have an anti-plaintiff mind set against race and national origin plaintiffs.

Keywords: Employment Discrimination, Civil Litigation

JEL Classification: K42

Suggested Citation

Parker, Wendy, Lessons in Losing: Race Discrimination in Employment (February 1, 2005). Wake Forest Univ. Legal Studies Paper No. 05-09, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=678082 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.678082

Wendy Parker (Contact Author)

Wake Forest University - School of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 7206
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
United States

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