According to a recent article in the Virginian Pilot, written by Philip Walzer, complaints about workplace discrimination have dropped since last year. These statistical numbers were compiled by the Norfolk office of the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Commission. My theory is that people stopped complaining because nothing ever gets done when they do complain. The number of complaints totaled 951 last year, which is down by 3 percent from 985 in 2011.
Racism was the most prevalent accusation, however, they say the number of racial complaints fell 12 percent, to 394 from 447. This is the lowest number in this category for at least five years. Nationwide the number of complaints stayed roughly constant, but the total for “race” dropped by 5 percent, or so they say, from 35, 395 to 33,512 in 2011. Helene Dodson, president of the NAACP in Chesapeake, says the group also has heard that fewer complaints about job discrimination based on race, and that they are assuming that people are afraid to make a report because of the job market.
Lawyers on both sides say the data does not correspond with their experiences, Lisa Bertini, represents workers, says she has seen a 25 percent increase since 2011, in the number of clients seeking to press complaints of job discrimination. She is a shareholder of Bertini, O'Donnell, and Hammer in Norfolk. Lisa Bertini, states that she stays busy with clients seeking to file complaints of job discrimination.
Arlene Klinedinst, who is a partner with Vandeventer Black says that more attorneys for workers are contacting lawyers for employers early in the process and settling cases before they get to the EEOC, which sounds closer to being accurate than the assumption that there are fewer discrimination cases today then there were in the past.
Herb Brown, who is the director of the EEOC's Norfolk office, said that he can not speculate on what is behind the decline. They have fewer investigators at the EEOC today than they did in 2011, they have dropped from 8 to 6 because of lack of funding.
Also, not every category of discrimination had decreases. Accusations of discrimination based on disabilities has increased 5 percent in Hampton Roads and 2 percent across the nation, according to the data. See the link below for the chart they have posted on numbers for discrimination.
People are afraid to complain, and when they do complain nothing is done, and you have to hire a high powered attorney to get anywhere with your claim, and who can afford an attorney these days. Equally, they have cut money from the Virginia Legal Aid Society, making it almost impossible for the average American to afford any sort of justice.
http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/fewer-workers-filed-claims-discriminatio...
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