The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has said that despite an increase in overall charges filed in fiscal 2010 that it "drastically slowed the growth of the charge inventory" from a 16 percent increase between 2008 and 2009 to less than a 1 percent increase in fiscal 2010 for a year-end total of 86,338 pending charges.
The agency said private sector workplace discrimination charge filings jumped to an unprecedented level of 99,922 during fiscal 2010.
Job discrimination remains a problem for many job seekers but EEOC chair Jacqueline Berrien said the agency’s "rebuilding efforts are having an impact on how efficiently and effectively the Commission enforces the civil rights laws protecting the nation’s workers."
In fiscal 2010 the EEOC filed 250 lawsuits, resolved 285 others, and resolved 104,999 private sector charges.
It also resolved 7,213 requests for hearings in the federal sector – securing more than $63 million in relief – and resolved more than 4,600 federal sector appeals, for an increase of 400 over fiscal 2009.