The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is at the forefront of protecting American workers from employment discrimination. Each year, the EEOC receives thousands of complaints from employees in all 50 states and in all types of occupations. It is the EEOC’s goal to evaluate all complaints fairly, help resolve them as needed, and protect and uphold the rights of the average worker.
To shed some insight into the worst offenders of employment discrimination, the EEOC releases an annual report on its findings and efforts. In early April, the 2018 report was released to the public.
The key findings of the EEOC fiscal year 2018 workplace discrimination report are:
- There were a total of 76,418 workplace discrimination charges and complaints handled by the EEOC.
- About 520,000 calls, 35,000 emails, and 200,000 miscellaneous inquiries about filing a workplace discrimination complaint were fielded by the EEOC. In terms of phone calls alone, this amount equates to nearly one call a minute for the entire fiscal year of 2018.
- The EEOC was able to resolve 90,558 complaints and cases, most of which originated from past years.
- Out of all the complaints resolved, complaintants received a sum total of $505 million in damages and restitutions.
- More than 7,600 sexual harassment charges and complaints were handled by the EEOC, an increase of nearly 14% from last year. This increase has been commonly attributed to the #MeToo movement.
- Nearly 52%* of all charges filed included some form of unjust retaliation, such as actions taken against a whistleblower.
- About 33% of all complaints involved some form of discrimination based on sex.
- Another 33% of complaints involved some form of discrimination based on disability.
- Additionally, 33% of complaints involved discrimination based on race.
- Another major contributor to workplace discrimination was age discrimination, which accounted for about 22% of all cases.
(* The percentages exceed 100% since many cases include more than one type of discrimination.)
Takeaways from the EEOC 2018 Report
What does all of this information mean to you as a federal employee? The first thing you can take from the report is that discrimination is clearly still happening in all sectors of employment, including private, state-level, federal, etc.
Secondly, though, you should let the EEOC 2018 workplace discrimination report tell you that you are not alone if you have faced discrimination where you work. Tens of thousands of people are filing complaints each year, and even more are inquiring about what to do. Furthermore, many of these very same people are getting closure and compensation for unjust treatment in their workplace thanks to the efforts of the EEOC and the attorneys who represent them.
You can view the full EEOC report by clicking here and visiting the official EEOC government website. If you need help from an attorney for an EEOC complaint of your own, call (202) 350-3881 to connect with John P. Mahoney, Esq. Attorneys at Law. At our law firm, which is headquartered in Washington D.C., we have devoted our practice to helping lawyers stand up for themselves and for everyone else in their situation.
