Retaliation Tops List of Charges Filed With EEOC

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today released detailed breakdowns for the 72,675 charges of workplace discrimination the agency received in fiscal year 2019. Comprehensive statistics for FY 2019, including by state, are posted on the agency’s website.

The data show that retaliation continued to be the most frequently filed charge, followed by disability, race and sex. The following is a breakdown of total charges in descending order:

• Retaliation: 39,110 (53.8 percent of all charges filed)
• Disability: 24,238 (33.4 percent)
• Race: 23,976 (33.0 percent)
• Sex: 23,532 (32.4 percent)
• Age: 15,573 (21.4 percent)
• National Origin: 7,009 (9.6 percent)
• Color: 3,415 (4.7 percent)
• Religion: 2,725 (3.7 percent)
• Equal Pay Act: 1,117 (1.5 percent)
• Genetic Information: 209 (0.3 percent)

These percentages add up to more than 100 percent because some charges allege multiple bases of discrimination.