Job Discrimination Complaints Jump

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal job discrimination complaints filed by workers against private employers shot up 9 percent last year, the biggest annual increase since the early 1990s.

The data being released Wednesday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show allegations of discrimination based on race, retaliation and sex were the most frequent, continuing a long-term trend.

Overall, the commission said complaints increased from 75,768 charges filed in 2006, to 82,792 last fiscal year. That’s the highest complaint level since 2002, and the biggest annual percentage increase since 1993.

Complaints had been trending downward until 2006, when they increased slightly before spiking last year.

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Allegations of discrimination based on race were the leading category of complaints—30,510 in all, or 37 percent of all filings last year, said the commission, which enforces federal anti-discrimination laws among private employers.

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During 2007, 72,442 private sector discrimination complaints were resolved; the commission recovered approximately $345 million in compensation for those who had filed discrimination charges.

NOTE: Individuals may allege multiple types of discrimination in a single case.

[Editor’s Note: The EEOC’s report “Job Bias Charges Rise 9% In 2007, EEOC Reports,” can be read here. The data appear below.]

The number for total charges reflects the number of individual charge filings. Because individuals often file charges claiming multiple types of discrimination, the number of total charges for any given fiscal year will be less than the total of the eight types of discrimination listed.

The data are compiled by the Office of Research, Information and Planning from data reported via the quarterly reconciled Data Summary Reports and compiled from EEOC’s Charge Data System and, from FY 2004 forward, EEOC’s Integrated Mission System.