EEOC Obtains Record Amount of Relief in 2011
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- Published on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 03:02
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is reporting that it received a record 99,947 charges of employment discrimination and obtained $455.6 million in relief through its administrative program and litigation in Fiscal Year 2011. For the second year in a row, the EEOC resolved more charges than it took in with 112,499 resolutions (7,500 more resolutions than FY 2010—an increase of 7%)—leaving 78,136 pending charges, a ten percent decrease in its inventory. The FY 2011 data show that (1) the EEOC obtained a record $455.6 million in relief for private sector, state, and local employees and applicants, which represents a more than $45 million increase from the past fiscal year, and continues the upward trend of the past three fiscal years; (2) the mediation program reached record levels, both in the number of resolutions – 9,831 – which is 5% more than in FY 2010 (9,362), and benefits -- $170,053,021-- $29 million more than FY 2010; (3) the EEOC filed 300 lawsuits and obtained $91 million in relief, representing the third year in a row that the relief obtained was greater than in the preceding year.
EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien commented that, “For the second year in a row, the EEOC received a record number of new charges of discrimination…Nevertheless, the hard work of our employees, combined with increased investments in training, technology and staffing in 2009 and 2010, and strategic management of existing resources made 2011 a year of extraordinary achievements for the EEOC.” While the numbers of charges with race discrimination allegations declined from the previous year, charges with the three other most frequently-cited allegations increased: Sex discrimination--28,534; Disability discrimination--25,742; Age discrimination—23,465. The EEOC’s enforcement of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) produced the highest increase in monetary relief among all of the statutes: the administrative relief obtained for disability discrimination charges increased by almost 35.9 percent to $103.4 million compared to $76.1 million in the previous fiscal year. Interestingly, back impairments were the most frequently cited impairment under the ADA, followed by other orthopedic impairments, depression and diabetes. Read More.