Is High Unemployment Driving Workplace Discrimination? - A blog by Aman Singh

Aman Singh Das is the Corporate Responsibility Editor at Vault.com.
Jan 13, 2011 10:02 AM ET
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Is High Unemployment Driving Workplace Discrimination?

 

There were nearly 100,000 new charges of discrimination filed against employers during fiscal year 2010. This marks the highest level (7.2 percent) of new discrimination cases ever recorded, according to the latest report by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Workplace Discrimination

Another startling fact: For the first time since the EEOC was instituted in 1995, charges of employer retaliations outnumbered racial discrimination charges, reports The Wall Street Journal. And, according to the Huffington Post, roughly 20,000 of these were actually upheld, i.e., they product positive results for the complainant.

Further, the EEOC reportedly secured more than $404 million in monetary relief from employers -- the most money the commission has ever obtained through the administrative process, reports HuffPo.

There are several easily-explained reasons for this increase, with a strained economy playing primary defaulter.

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