The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has reported that discrimination charge filings in 2005 were down in all bias categories, and dropped by 5 percent overall. The EEOC received 75,428 charges for the fiscal year 2005 (which ended Sept. 30) and recovered almost $380 million in monetary relief through enforcement actions and litigation. The agency said it resolved 77,352 private-sector discrimination charges, 21.5 percent of which were closed with a favorable outcome for the worker.
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The new figures show that race discrimination charges were the most prevalent in 2005, comprising 35.5 percent of filings. The complete breakdown of filings is:
- Race Discrimination, 35.5%
- Sex Discrimination, 30.6%
- Retaliation, 29.5%
- Age Discrimination, 22%
- Disability Discrimination, 19.7%
- National Origin Discrminiation, 10.7%
- Religious Discrimination, 3.1%
- Equal Pay Complaints, 1.3%
Note that individuals can allege multiple types of discrimination when filing a charge.
The EEOC also pointed out that out of the total number of sexual harassment charges filed (12,679 charges total), 14 percent were filed by men, compared to 15.1 percent in 2004.