Gen Z 'Most Likely' Risk of Workplace Lawsuits: Survey

When hiring a Gen Z employee, the company may be calculating their risk of being hit with a workplace lawsuit.

Workplace lawsuits have been increasing in recent years. A 2024 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey found labor-related class action lawsuits against employers grew from 25.6 percent in 2021 to a whopping 43.4 percent in 2023. And the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found workplace lawsuits had skyrocketed by 50 percent from 2022 to 2023.

And who are employers blaming for the significant uptick in lawsuits? The newest generation in the workforce, Gen Z.

In a new RedBalloon Freedom Economy survey of 80,000 small business owners, 57.4 percent said Gen Z, which includes those ages 12 to 27, was the "most likely" to pose a risk of a workplace lawsuit.

"Employers are facing a minefield of litigation risks in this volatile labor market," RedBalloon CEO Andrew Crapuchettes said in a statement. "From hiring and firing decisions to workplace policies, every move carries legal exposure. Proactive risk management is critical to navigating this challenging environment."

Despite the perceived risk of Gen Z employees, they are rapidly entering the workforce and replacing the Baby Boomers before them. According to Forbes, Gen Z will make up roughly 27 percent of the global workforce by 2025.

That means employers will invariably have to adapt to Gen Z's workplace expectations and figure out how to lower the likelihood of lawsuits in the process.

"To succeed in 2024, employers will need to be laser-focused on managing risks while still finding and retaining the talent they need," Crapuchettes said. "It's a delicate balance, but one that is essential for companies to master."

This isn't the first time employers have raised complaints over the newest generation in the workforce.

In a previous Freedom Economy Index survey, 68 percent of small business owners called Gen Z the "least reliable" of their employees and 62 percent said they are likely to create division and toxicity at the office.

"Entitlement; they want higher-end coffee, large pay increases every year, promotions, perks, benefit upon benefits, more remote work even though they may be underperforming already with two days' per week remote," one business owner said in the report.

Another surveyed employer spoke of Gen Z's "absolute delusion, complete lack of common sense, and zero critical reasoning or basic analytical skills."

However, not all hiring managers are joining the bandwagon that Gen Z is inherently problematic for their company's goals.

Instead of seeing Gen Z as lazy or a threat, Dan Space, an HR consultant who runs DanFromHR.com, said employers should recognize them as the inevitable generation that observed what happened to their millennial elders.

"Gen Z is one of the most informed, confident and no BS generation because they saw what happened to the millennials before them," Space previously told Newsweek.

They have also been entering the workforce at a historically perplexing time for the workforce. Many started their first jobs remotely, and Zoom calls were the standard way of communication with their first manager.

"Being told to go to college to get a great job, graduating with up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, with zero tools to get a job, land somewhere and not be given the information on salaries, career development, moving towards compensation models that use mixed variations...So I find they are just far more comfortable with not putting up with this BS and being informed," Space said.

While Gen Z might be more likely to demand things like inclusivity and work life balance from a company, they also stand out from other generations in terms of their technical skills and politics.

A recent Lifesum report found 71 percent of Gen Zers would quit their jobs tomorrow for one that better supported their well-being, and 31 percent would consider a pay cut in exchange for a happier and healthier work environment.

"You can't intimidate them the way you could with millennials, nor do they have the Gen X apathy," Space said.