Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Annual Report

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released its annual report of enforcement and litigation data for fiscal year 2018. The report provides a snapshot of employment discrimination law in the U.S. and often indicates trend lines, providing insight for employers on the breadth of employment discrimination claims.
A few notable statistics:

• 76,418 – number of workplace discrimination charges received by the agency
• $505 million – dollars paid by employers as a result of charges
• 39,469 – number of retaliation charges filed (51.6% of all charges)
• 24,605 – number of sex related charges (32.3% of all charges)
• 199 – number of merit lawsuits filed by the EEOC

The EEOC saw a 13.6 percent increase in sexual harassment charges from FY 2017.
The report serves as a reminder to employers of just how prevalent claims of employment discrimination are. The number of retaliation charges should put employers on notice to be extra careful when an employee has complained of discrimination, even if informally. Employers should conduct annual training on discrimination and harassment for both employees and managers.

A company’s best defense against the potential expense and aggravation related to federal or state law violations is to proactively review and revise as needed all Human Resources policies, handbooks, hiring procedures, compensation, benefits, training programs, communications tools and other functions. The professionals of PHHR are ready to assist your organization with this type of training as well as to maintain compliance with the latest state and federal mandates.

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Paul Hilton is a certified Human Resources Consultant, located in Columbia, SC.
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