The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 99,947 charges of private sector employment discrimination – a new record — and obtained $455.6 million in relief through its administrative program and litigation in fiscal 2011.
Despite the high volume the commission says it managed to eat into its backlog of cases by resolving 112,499 claims, leaving 78,136 pending charges — the first decline since 2002.
It said its mediation program reached 9,831 for a 5 percent increase over fiscal 2010, and it estimates it reached 540,000 people through outreach and education programs.
The EEOC also resolved 7,672 hearing requests from federal employees, securing over $58 million in relief, while resolving 4,510 appeals from final agency determinations.
Retaliation claims remain the most common, comprising over 37 percent of all claims. Race discrimination was a close second at 35 percent, followed by charges of disability and age discrimination.