Top 10 Employment Discrimination Charges in 2017

A total of 84,254 workplace discrimination charges were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) nationwide during fiscal year (FY) 2017, according to the federal agency.

The EEOC said it secured $398 million for victims in the private sector and state and local government work­places through voluntary resolutions and litigation.

The enforcement and litigation statistics are for FY 2017, which ended Sept. 30, 2017.

The FY 2017 data show that retaliation was the most frequently filed charge filed with the agency, followed by race and disability. The agency also received 6,696 sexual harassment charges and obtained $46.3 million in monetary benefits for victims of sexual harassment.

Specifically, the charge numbers show the following breakdowns by bases alleged, in descending order:

• Retaliation: 41,097 (48.8 percent of all charges filed)
• Race: 28,528 (33.9 percent)
• Disability: 26,838 (31.9 percent)
• Sex: 25,605 (30.4 percent)
• Age: 18,376 (21.8 percent)
• National Origin: 8,299 (9.8 percent)
• Religion: 3,436 (4.1 percent)
• Color: 3,240 (3.8 percent)
• Equal Pay Act: 996 (1.2 percent)
• Genetic Information: 206 (.2 percent)

The percentages add up to more than 100 because some charges allege multiple bases.

The EEOC resolved 99,109 charges in FY 2017 and reduced the charge workload by 16.2 percent to 61,621, the lowest level of inventory in 10 years. The agency said it achieved this by more efficiently prioritizing charges with merit, more quickly resolving investigations, and improving the agency’s digital systems.

The agency handled 540,000 calls to its toll-free number and more than 155,000 inquiries in field offices.

EEOC legal staff filed 184 merits lawsuits alleging discrimination in fiscal year 2017. The lawsuits filed by the EEOC included 124 individual suits and 30 suits involving multiple victims or discrimin­atory policies and 30 systemic discrimination cases. At the end of the fiscal year, the EEOC had 242 cases on its active docket. The EEOC said it has achieved a successful outcome in 90.8 percent of all suit resolutions.

Source: EEOC