Employee Discrimination Claims Hit Record High in 2009

Last year the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) won $294 million on behalf of employees in back wages on behalf of employee claimants, a record high. It also collected another $82 million from complaints that actually made it to court.

According to the EEOC’s recent annual report, the number of pregnancy-discrimination claims jumped more than 30 percent since 2005, compared to almost 24 percent increase in all job bias claims.

In 2009, the EEOC received 93,277 complaints. Nearly a quarter of those complaints were claims of disability discrimination. The numbers of disability complaints are expected to continue to rise now that the definition of disability has been broadened under the Americans with Disabilities Act.