EEOC Receives and Resolves a Declining Number of Discrimination Charges in FY 2012

At the end of last month, the EEOC reported that it received 99,412 private sector Charges of Discrimination during in its last fiscal year. 3.3% of these were filed in Ohio. This is actually a slight reduction over last year's record number of 99,947 Charges of Discrimination. Although many Charges cite multiple legal violations, retaliation remains the most frequent cited basis (at 38.1%) followed by race (at 33.7%) and sex (at 30.5%) (including pregnancy discrimination). Discharge remains the most frequently cited form of discrimination under all statutes, followed by discrimination in terms and conditions of employment, then harassment and then disciplinary action.

The amount of monetary relief obtained by the EEOC through its combined enforcement, mediation and litigation programs declined from a record $455.6M in 2011 to $409.6M in 2012. Moreover the EEOC filed only 122 lawsuits in 2012, compared to 300 in 2011. Despite filing fewer lawsuits, "[t]he EEOC's legal staff resolved 254 lawsuits for a total monetary recovery of $44.2 million."

This was the second full year for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and the EEOC received 280 charges under this new statute.
     
More detailed statistics are available from the EEOC's website.