The number of employment-discrimination charges filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) increased 9 percent in the last year, which marks the highest annual increase since 1993 and the highest total number of charges filed in the last five years, according to the agency's latest statistics.
Charges based on race, sex/gender and retaliation are still among the most frequent ones filed, but six of the seven categories experienced double-digit increases in charges over the last year, which the EEOC calls a "rare occurrence."
What Does the Data Show?
A total of 82,792 private-sector discrimination charges were filed in 2007. Here's a breakdown of the latest data by type of discrimination. Keep in mind that individuals can allege discrimination based on multiple categories such as race and gender, for example, within a single case or charge, which explains why some percentages total more than 100 percent.
Percent of Total Charges Filed in 2007
- Race: 36.9%
- Retaliation: 32.2%
- Sex/Gender: 30%
- Age: 23.1%
- Disability: 21.4%
- National Origin: 11.3%
- Religion: 3.5%
Percent Increase 2006--2007
- Race: 12% (highest level since 1994)
- Retaliation: 18% (record-high number of charges--surpassed sex as second most frequently filed charge for the first time ever)
- Sex/Gender: 7% (highest number of charges since 2002)
- Age: 15% (largest yearly increase since 2002)
- Disability: 14% (most charges since 1998)
- National Origin: 12% (surpassed 9,000 charges per year for second time ever)
- Religion: 13% (record high number of charges, more than double since 1992)
The EEOC released a few other statistics of note: Pregnancy-based charges reached a record high (5,587 in 2007), marking a 14 percent increase over 2006. Charges based on sexual harassment also shot upward for the first time in seven years (12,510). Nearly one-fifth (16 percent) of those sexual-harassment charges were filed by men, which is a new record and up from 9 percent in the early 1990s, reports the EEOC. Last year also set a new record for sexual-harassment charges filed by men. Why is man-to-man harassment at work surging? Race has been the most commonly filed charge with the EEOC since the agency was established in 1965; that statistic hasn't changed.
The only category to experience a drop (and a slight drop, at that) in discrimination charges since 2006 was the Equal Pay Act, which only accounted for 1 percent of all EEOC charges in 2007 and numbered fewer than 1,000; 818 such charges were filed in 2007, down a mere 5 percent from 2006.
Check out all the latest charge statistics from 1997 to 2007.
Read Christian, Muslim & Hindu: How Will Your Company Manage Religion at Work? to learn about the shifting religious landscape and how to manage it well.
Behind the Numbers
What's propelling this increase in charges? It's difficult to isolate one cause, but heightened legal awareness among individual employees, accessibility and information about how to file complaints, increasing work-force diversity and demographic shifts and economic uncertainty may partly explain the year-over-year increase in charges.
Retaliation-based charges appear to be the driving force behind the increase in total complaints. These types of charges are double the number from 1992. Find out how the Supreme Court may make it easier for employers to retaliate against discrimination victims, whether for exposing a systemic problem, making allegations or participating in an internal investigation, for example.
"Corporate America needs to do a better job of proactively preventing discrimination and addressing complaints promptly and effectively," Commission Chair Naomi Earp said in a statement. "To ensure that equality of opportunity becomes a reality in the 21st-century workplace, employers need to place a premium on fostering inclusive and discrimination-free work environments for all individuals."
"It's clear that these issues are not going away, and one of the things that the federal government could do is be more proactive in going after these," says Weldon Latham, senior partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Davis, Wright, Tremaine, chair of the firm's corporate-diversity-counseling group and Diversity Advisory Board chair for Deloitte & Touche, No. 19 in the Top 50.
Latham represented The Coca-Cola Co., No. 4 in the Top 50, in one of the highest profile race-discrimination cases of all time. Read about Coca-Cola's transformation into a national diversity leader in the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue of DiversityInc magazine.
"One of the things this administration said it was going to do was spend more time going after systemic cases, but they did not provide any additional funding to go after those cases," he says.
What Do Employers Need to Know?
The 2007 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® have made diversity management an essential part of their business strategies. The 2008 Top 50 will be unveiled on this web site and live at the Chief Diversity Officers Forum in Atlanta, Ga., on April 2 at 4:15 p.m. Click here to find out how to attend.
"As DiversityInc's (Top 50 survey) shows, the top companies are doing more and more in this arena, not because of the compliance requirements but because they've determined it's good business. It's good business for them to be viewed as employers of choice. It's good business for them to send a positive message out to their consumers that they recognize the importance of this, both for minorities and women," says Latham.
Perhaps no single word concerns an employer more than the term "lawsuit." So what does the latest data mean? Think about the bottom line. The EEOC recovered $345 million in monetary relief for discrimination victims in 2007 alone, according to the agency. This number doesn't even include the amount employers pay in legal fees or the inestimable destruction it does to an employer (and increasingly product) brand.
It's important to be extra careful. Here are 10 Ways to Avoid Discrimination Lawsuits from the Special 2007 issue of DiversityInc magazine.
"There are a lot of good business reasons for doing this, but the federal government can strengthen its capacity to enforce where there is a lack of compliance and those two things together I think will drive down the number of complaints coming in over time," says Latham. "Companies need to know that they want to get ahead of the power curve. They don't just want to rely on compliance; they want to create environments that are employee-friendly. Instead of worrying about a case for hostile work environment or retaliation or sex or racial harassment, they need to get ahead of the power curve."
How can companies do that? It starts by communicating your corporate values and conveying that discriminatory actions and behavior will not be tolerated, says Latham, because this is a company committed to ensuring a fair and equitable work environment.
Aside from maintaining compliance programs, make sure "you have a vehicle to resolve those issues," says Latham. Create an environment in which your EEO office is viewed as an advocate within the company and an office that cares about fairly and equitably addressing employee complaints. If you do that, chances are you won't find yourself faced with major litigation because employees have faith in the system and complaints are resolved internally on an individual basis, he adds.
"It's just good business when you're competing that when people have a choice, they want to go to the companies that have the best diversity performance and profile," says Latham. "From a purely business standpoint, happy employees are more productive employees, and it's clearly in the company's best interest to create that positive environment."
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