Discrimination claims filed with the EEOC jumped 15 percent in 2008 to 95,402 — the highest level since the agency opened in 1965, said spokesman David Grinberg.  Age discrimination charges were up 29 percent.  Preliminary figures to be released by the EEOC this week show that claims of age discrimination saw the biggest jump last year to 24,582.  Retaliation claims (where employees believe they were fired or demoted based on their complaints or bias or other issues) saw the second-largest increase.  Grinberg said “It’s possible we have yet to see the full impact of the recession on discrimination charge filings as the economy continues to spiral downward since fiscal year 2008”.  He predicts that job bias cases may swell to more than 100,000. 

The category with the largest number of complaints was race, followed by retaliation, sex, age, disability, national origin, religion and equal pay act.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act removed the “statute of limitations” or time limit for claiming pay discrimiantion.  As that possibility becomes fully understood, the number of complaints could rise even more. 

What can employers do?  They should continue to follow both the spirit and the letter of the fair employment laws — as always.  When layoff, demotion, pay decrease, job changes, training opportunities and termination decisions are made — make sure illegal criteria are not used to make these decisions that impact employees.   Audit practices and outcomes to be sure unintentional discrimination does not exist. 

(above data from SHRM.org website– contributors: Tahminicioglu and Grinberg)