Workplace Harassment Is Not Just About Sex Anymore

Workplace Harassment Is Not Just About Sex Anymore

SUNRISE, Fla., June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Last year the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) resolved 87,755 charges of employment
discrimination for $236 million in monetary and other benefits. Sexual
harassment and gender-related claims made up only 30 percent of the cases. So
what are employers doing wrong now?
The largest number of EEOC complaints (35.1 percent) came from allegations
of race discrimination. This was followed by claims of retaliation for filing
a charge or cooperating with an investigation (27.9 percent), age
discrimination (23.5 percent), and discrimination based upon an employee's or
applicant's disability (18.9 percent). The figures add up to more than 100
percent because numerous complaints alleged more than one kind of
discrimination.
"Employers paid out $236 million last year and $257 million the year
before. These figures tell me that managers in a lot of companies aren't
doing their homework," says Ashley Kaplan, employment law attorney for
Sunrise, Fla.-based G.Neil Corp. "As a result, they also are putting
themselves and their organizations at financial risk."