Bias Charges at All-Time High

It’s probably not too much of a surprise — due to both the economy and a more aggressive enforcement atmosphere — that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that private-sector bias charges hit an all-time high in fiscal year 2011.

The EEOC reports that it received a record 99,947 claims of employment discrimination, with the top five being:

Retaliation: 37,334

Race Discrimination: 35,395

Sex Discrimination: 28,534

Disability Discrimination: 25,742

Age Discrimination: 23,465

Employment attorneys say they always expect more claims in tough economic times — since there are plenty of laid-off workers struggling to find new jobs with little else to do than think about suing their former employers for real or imagined offenses.

Last year, we reported on HREOnline™ that the EEOC received 99,922 job-bias charges — which then was the highest number in the agency’s history.

The agency also reported that it obtained $455.6 million for complainants through administrative programs and litigation in fiscal 2011, and for the second year in a row, resolved more charges than it took  in — decreasing its inventory for the first time since 2002.

As for the agency’s enforcement efforts, some attorneys are suggesting that the EEOC goes too far, too fast at times — and may try to stampede companies into admitting to violations without having actual proof of any violations. See our story on a recent case, where the EEOC was ordered to pay $2.6 million in legal fees to an employer it sued.

That story and this bylined article by a former EEOC attorney also offer some advice to HR leaders on what to do when faced with inquiries from the agency.

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