Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released detailed breakdowns of the 89,385 charges of workplace discrimination that the agency received in fiscal year 2015.
- Retaliation charges increased by nearly 5% and continue to be the leading concern raised by workers across the country. Disability charges increased by 6% from last year and are the third largest category of charges filed.
- EEOC resolved 92,641 charges in fiscal year 2015, and secured more than $525 million for victims of discrimination in private sector and state and local government workplaces through voluntary resolutions and litigation.
Dive Insight:
The agency demonstrated its "strong commitment" to working with employers to voluntarily resolve charges of discrimination by achieving the highest mediation and conciliation success rates in its history, EEOC Chair Jenny Yang said.
The year-end data shows that retaliation was once again the most frequently filed charge of discrimination, with 39,757 charges (45% of all private sector charges filed with EEOC). After retaliation, the charge numbers for the next four highest categories were race, 31,027 (34.7%); disability, 26,968 (30.2%); sex, 26,396 (29.5%) and age, 20,144 (22.5%).
The EEOC also noted that its current effort to seek public input on its proposed update of enforcement guidance addressing retaliation and related issues concludes on February 24, so time is running out for HR leaders looking to comment.
