Workplace Disability Discrimination Claims See Decline
For the first time in years, federal officials say that the number of disability-related job discrimination complaints dropped last year.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said it received 25,957 charges of job bias related to disability for the 2013 fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2012 through Sept. 30, 2013. That’s down from 2012 when 26,379 complaints were filed with the agency, the most such claims on record for any year.
The latest figures mark the first time since 2005 that the EEOC recorded a year-over-year decline in complaints.
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Of the disability-related cases addressed by the EEOC in 2013, officials said that 5,675 were resolved in favor of the person who brought the charges, with the agency helping to secure over $109 million in monetary awards for those harmed.
In addition to disability, the EEOC also monitors employment discrimination complaints related to race, color, sex, age, religion, genetic information and national origin.
Across all categories, the agency said it received 93,727 claims for the 2013 fiscal year, representing a 5.7 percent decrease from the prior year.
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