EEOC Receives Record Number of Charges in 2011

January 25, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received a record 99,947 charges of employment discrimination in Fiscal Year 2011. 
 

The EEOC also obtained $455.6 million in relief through its administrative program in 2011, the agency announced.

For the second year in a row, despite a record number of receipts, the EEOC resolved more charges than it took in, with 112,499 resolutions (7,500 more resolutions than FY 2010—an increase of 7%) and leaving 78,136 pending charges, a 10% decrease in its inventory, the first year the agency has seen a reduction since 2002. 

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The FY 2011 data also shows:

•  Due to EEOC’s enforcement programs in both the private and federal sectors, 5.4 million individuals benefited from changes in employment policies or practices in their workplace during the past fiscal year.

•  Through its combined enforcement, mediation and litigation programs, the EEOC was able to obtain a record $455.6 million in relief for private sector, state and local employees and applicants, a more than $45 million increase from the prior fiscal year and continuing the upward trend of the past three fiscal years. 

•  The mediation program reached record levels, both in the number of resolutions, (9,831, which is 5% more than in FY 2010 (9,362)), and benefits, ($170,053,021 or $29 million more than FY 2010).

•  The EEOC filed 300 lawsuits and its litigation efforts resulted in $91 million of relief, representing the third year in a row that the relief obtained was greater than in the preceding year. Continuing to build on its commitment to systemic litigation, 23 of the lawsuits filed involved systemic allegations involving large numbers of people and an additional 67 had multiple victims (less than 20).

•  The EEOC also filed 261 “merits” lawsuits (merits suits include direct suits and interventions alleging violations of the substantive provisions of the statutes enforced by the EEOC and suits to enforce administrative settlements).

•  The EEOC’s public outreach and education programs reached approximately 540,000 people.

•  In the federal sector, where the EEOC has different enforcement obligations, the EEOC resolved a total of 7,672 requests for hearings, securing more than $58 million in relief for parties who requested hearings. It also resolved 4,510 appeals from final agency determinations.

“For the second year in a row, the EEOC received a record number of new charges of discrimination,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien. “Nevertheless, the hard work of our employees, combined with increased investments in training, technology and staffing in 2009 and 2010, and strategic management of existing resources made 2011 a year of extraordinary achievements for the EEOC.”

The total number of charges received was up slightly from last fiscal year’s record total. Once again, charges alleging retaliation under all the statutes the EEOC enforces were the most numerous at 37,334 charges received, or 37.4% of all charges, closely followed by charges involving claims of race discrimination at 35,395 charges or 35.4%. While the numbers of charges for race discrimination allegations declined from the previous year, charges for the three other most frequently-cited allegations increased:

•  Sex discrimination—28,534  

•  Disability discrimination—25,742

•  Age discrimination—23,465

The agency’s enforcement of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) produced the highest increase in monetary relief among all of the statutes: the administrative relief obtained for disability discrimination charges increased by almost 35.9% to $103.4 million compared to $76.1 million in the previous fiscal year. Back impairments were the most frequently cited impairment under the ADA, followed by other orthopedic impairments, depression and diabetes.

For the first full fiscal year of enforcement, the EEOC received 245 charges under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of genetic information, including family medical history. 

For more information on the 2011 data, visit http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/index.cfm.

N.J. not Making Its Share of Pension Contribution

January 25, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Although legislation was passed last year to shift more pension cost onto state workers in New Jersey, reports show the state is failing to make its share of pension contributions.

The pension reform passed last year helped lower the state’s unfunded pension liability from $53.9 billion to $36.3 billion, but the state’s pension hole grew by $5.5 billion by the end of the 2011 budget year, largely because the state failed to make a pension payment, an annual actuarial report on the pension funds shows, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.   

The newspaper said the state was supposed to pay about $3 billion into the pension fund this year, but will only be paying about $480 million. Next year, the state will only pay about $900 million of its $3 billion bill, records show.   

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Overall, the state has only 67% of the money it needs to meet its future pension obligation, and that figure is expected to worsen as the state phases in its full pension payment over the next seven years.   

Under the legislation passed last year, workers are required to pay more into their pensions and for their healthcare, and their contributions are calculated as a percentage of premiums instead of salary (see NJ Legislature Approves Cuts to Public Worker Benefits). New employees must work longer to get a full pension.  

Following the bill’s passage, a lawsuit was filed by more than 20 New Jersey public employee unions and individuals against Governor Chris Christie and other state officials seeking to block its implementation (see NJ Public Workers Sue over Benefit Changes). 

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