Analysis of Employment Discrimination Claims for Cases in Which an Order was Issued on Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment in 2011 and 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

Abstract

Justice at Work is an initiative sponsored by Barrett & Farahany, LLP, an employment civil rights firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. Justice at Work's primary purpose is to protect litigants' rights to a trial by a jury of peers. In furtherance of this mission, Justice at Work conducted a study to ascertain the current rate of dismissal via summary judgment for plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases. For this particular study, Justice at Work analyzed employment discrimination cases in the Northern District of Georgia containing claims that were summarily adjudicated in 2011 and 2012 upon the defendant's motion for summary judgment. In addition to determining overall dismissal rates for the years studied, the orders were likewise reviewed in a secondary analysis to determine rates of dismissal for represented plaintiffs bringing specific discrimination claim types, including race, gender, age, national origin, religion and disability.

Keywords: summary judgment, employment discrimination, civil rights, dismissal