EEOC Says It Received a Record Number of Discrimination Complaints in 2011, with Race Discrimination at the Top of the ListÂ
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received a record 99,947 charges of employment discrimination in 2011, according to a report released today.
The commission obtained $455.6 million in relief through its administrative program and litigation in 2011.
For the second year in a row, the commission resolved more charges than it took in with 112,499 resolutions. That was 7,500 more resolutions than in 2010 — an increase of 7 percent. That leaves 78,136 pending charges, a 10 percent decrease in inventory, the first year the agency has seen a reduction since 2002.
The charges were related to these four key areas, which add up to more than 100 because some charges were in multiple categories:
- Â Â Race discrimination – 37,334 charges or 37.4 percent of all charge
- Â Â Sex discrimination – 28,534 charges or 28.5 percent
- Â Â Age discrimination – 23,465 charges or 23.4 percent
- Â Â Disability discrimination – 25,742 charges or 26 percent
The agency’s enforcement of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) produced the highest increase in financial relief among all of the statutes. The administrative relief obtained for disability discrimination charges increased by almost 35.9 percent to $103.4 million compared to $76.1 million in 2010. Back ailments were the most frequently cited impairment under the ADA, followed by other orthopedic impairments, depression and diabetes.
as reported by NAPBS’ Thursday letter
