On February 5, 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released its annual statistics on its FY 2013 activity. Among other things, the data reveals that there was a 5.7% decrease in charges received by the agency in FY 2013 as compared to FY 2012. In all, the EEOC received 93,727 charges of discrimination last year.
The most cited basis for charges of discrimination was retaliation, which increased both in number and as a percentage of all charges from the prior year. Following retaliation was race discrimination, sex discrimination (including sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination) and disability discrimination. Also in 2013, the EEOC filed 131 lawsuits, with 78 of them alleging violations of Title VII, and 51 arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The EEOC’s statistics can be found on the Enforcement and Litigation Statistics page of its website.