Click here to subscribe to our Bowles Law e-letter
Click here to subscribe to our Bowles Law e-letter
Workplace Retaliation on the Rise
EEOC Releases Report on Complaints Filed 2015-2016
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced the number of workplace discrimination charges filed nationwide during fiscal year 2016 (October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016).
Of the 91,503 workplace discrimination charges filed with the agency during that time, retaliation topped the list, totaling 42,018 charges, followed by race, disability, sex and age-based charges.
The EEOC’s legal staff resolved 139 lawsuits and filed 86 new lawsuits last year, securing more than $482 million for claimants.
For the first time, the EEOC included detailed information about LGBT charges in its year-end summary, with a total of 1,650 charges filed and $4.4 million obtained for LGBT claimants who filed sex discrimination charges.
Workforce education for the prevention of unlawful practices is essential for any business. While regular “zero-tolerance” sexual harassment training and well-worded anti-discrimination, harassment and retaliation policies are sound practices, employers should not stop there. To promote and maintain a professional and productive work environment, managers and workers alike should receive training on all forms of discrimination, harassment and retaliation, including gender, age, religion, sexual preference, national origin, and disability, to name a few.
For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
See also, for example, our blogs:
Unlawful Retaliation Defined
Discrimination and Retaliation Claims
Is Your Harassment Policy California Compliant?
Employer Zones Out
Smokin’ Spuds Goes Down in Flames
Cindy Bamforth
February 17, 2017
If you are an employer facing possible litigation, or have an employee issue on which you need immediate guidance, call us to set up a consultation, or submit your message.
NOTE: Use of this website does not make one a client of the Law Offices of Timothy Bowles (“Firm” or “Bowles Law”). Establishing an attorney-client relationship and the confidentiality that comes with it depends on the Firm’s prior confirmation that no factor, including any conflict of interest (for example, our representation of another party adverse to you), exists to prevent that establishment. If you have confidential information that you would like to provide a Bowles Law attorney, please communicate directly to one of our attorneys, in person, by telephone, email, fax or other written means. Do not use this website to offer or communicate confidential information about any legal matter.