Agency reports slight increase in discrimination cases

The number of discrimination complaints received by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rose slightly to 99,947 in fiscal 2011, the agency said Wednesday. The EEOC received 99,922 complaints in fiscal 2010.

Retaliation continued to be the most frequent type of complaint, accounting for about 37 percent of the total, followed by racial discrimination, 35 percent, and sex discrimination, 29 percent.

The agency also said it resolved more cases than it received, reducing its backlog by 10 percent. That marked the first year since 2002 that the EEOC reported a decline in the number of pending cases.