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EEOC Healthcare Bias Complaints on the Rise

 |  By John Commins  
   January 20, 2011

Healthcare workplace bias complaints jumped 21.7% in fiscal 2010, a record pace that outstripped the also unprecedented 15.9% rate of growth for bias complaints in the overall workforce, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.

Overall, EEOC fielded a record 99,992 private sector workplace discrimination charge filings in fiscal 2010, which ended Sept. 30. Healthcare workplace complaints represented about 7.4% of all complaints filed in 2010, and grew from 6,078 charge filings in 2009, to 7,403 filings in 2010. Hospitals saw the number of complaints filed rise from 2,484 in fiscal 2009, to 2,945 in fiscal 2010, an increase of 18.6%, EEOC said. 

EEOC attributed the surge in charge filings to multiple factors, including economic conditions, increased diversity, demographic shifts in the labor force, employees’ greater awareness of the law,
improvements in EEOC’s intake practices and customer service, and greater accessibility to the public.

In the healthcare workforce, race was cited in 2,934 (39.6%) of bias claims, followed by 2,642 (35.7%) claims of “retaliation.” Disability bias was alleged in 2,074 (28%) complaints, sex bias was alleged in 1,812 (24.5%) of complaints, age bias was alleged in 1,560 (21.1%) of complaints, and national origin bias was alleged in 794 complaints (10.7%). Violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act were alleged in 5,278 (71.3%) of all bias complaints filed in the healthcare sector. 

In the overall workforce, and for the first time since the EEOC became operational in 1965, retaliation under all statutes (36,258) surpassed race (35,890) as the most frequently filed charge, while allegations based on religion (3,790), disability (25,165) and age (23,264) increased.

EEOC data for the overall workforce in fiscal 2010 showed its mediation program ended the year with a record 9,370 resolutions, 10% more than fiscal 2009, with more than $142 million in monetary benefits. At the end of fiscal 2010, EEOC was conducting 465 investigations, involving more than 2,000 charges. EEOC resolved 7,213 requests for hearings in the federal sector, secured more than $63 million for plaintiffs, and resolved more than 4,600 federal sector appeals -- 400 more than in fiscal 2009.

Even with the record-setting pace of new complaints, EEOC said it has reduced rate of growth of its backlog of cases. EEOC ended fiscal 2010 with 86,338 pending charges -- an increase of 570 charges, less than 1%. Between fiscal years 2008 and 2009, EEOC's pending inventory increased 15.9%.

“We are pleased to see that our rebuilding efforts are having an impact on how efficiently and effectively the commission enforces the civil rights laws protecting the nation’s workers,” said EEOC Chair
Jacqueline A. Berrien. “Discrimination continues to be a substantial problem for too many job seekers and workers, and we must continue to build our capacity to enforce the laws that ensure that workplaces are free of unlawful bias.”

In fiscal 2010, EEOC filed 250 lawsuits, resolved 285 lawsuits, and resolved 104,999 private sector charges, and secured more than $404 million in from employers -- the most money ever recovered by EEOC through the administrative process.

All major categories of charge filings in the private sector -- which include charges filed against state
and local governments – increased, including alleged discrimination under Title VII; the Equal Pay Act; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act; and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, EEOC said.

 

John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.

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