In the realm of employment-related cases, racial discrimination cases account for a relatively low amount of the overall total, according to Advisen’s Loss Insights database. In fact, while employment-related cases have risen since 2005, cases reflecting racial discrimination claims have dropped from 239 cases out of 1,382 per year to 203 out of 1,643 in 2014.
The wide-reaching category of “services” had the highest number of racial discrimination cases in 2014, at 69, after reaching an industry high of 83 in 2008. The services industry was distantly followed by claims in the public administration sphere, which dropped to 30 claims in 2014, after hitting a high of 74 in 2007. Manufacturing and wholesale/retail/trade came in at 29 cases each in 2014, but manufacturing also reported the highest number of cases across all industries in 2006, at 107. Racial discrimination claims in this sector dropped to 10 by 2013 and typically showed no more than 34 cases in any given year, suggested that the 2006 might have been an aberration.
Steady drops in racial discrimination cases in the wholesale/retail/trade and public administration fields suggest attention to improving employment practices during the 2005 to 2014 time period.
The final graph illustrates that most racial discrimination claims end up on the lower end of the severity range from $7,000 up to a high of $17.5 million. Advisen data show that while there is a 55 percent probability of cases settling for $7,000, there is only a one percent probability of settling for the upper range. The vast majority of cases tend to end up costing organizations less than $180,000.
Erin is the managing editor of Advisen’s Front Page News. She has been covering property-casualty insurance since 2000. Previously, Erin served as editor-in-chief of The Standard, New England’s Insurance Weekly. Erin is based in Boston, Mass. Contact Erin at [email protected].
