Final fiscal year (FY) 2018 (October 1, 2017 – September 30, 2018) enforcement and litigation statistics released recently by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) confirm a dramatic drop-off in the overall number of charge filings received by the agency compared to the preceding year, as originally noted in the agency’s release of preliminary numbers last December.
The final numbers also confirm that for the tenth straight year, claims of unlawful retaliation were the most common type of charge filed with the EEOC, with more than half of all charge filings(51.6%) now containing a retaliation claim. Charges alleging unlawful harassment made up 34.1% of all filings, the second most common claim.
In addition, the numbers show that charges alleging sex discrimination (32.3%) and disability discrimination (32.2%) have caught up with race discrimination (32.2%), which for many years was the most commonly alleged claim. Charges alleging age discrimination composed 22.1% of all charges filed, while charges alleging pay discrimination under the Equal Pay Act composed only 1.4%.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.