"According to the EEOC, race discrimination complaints continue to be the number one complaint made to the EEOC. In 2006, a total of 27,238 such complaints were filed. The EEOC also has seen a substantial increase over the past 15 years in discrimination claims based on color, which have soared from 374 in 1992 to 1,241 in 2006," the article stated.
While employers are leaning more and more on things like criminal records and credit scores when it comes to making hiring decisions, the EEOC says this is unacceptable, and employment attorneys are warning their clients to adhere to the EEOC's rules and regulations. However, some attorneys say that most employers that they represent are already upholding EEOC standards and do their best to promote diversity in the workplace.
"Companies all over the country have made workplace diversity a priority, and it seems to be working well," Mark Ogden, an attorney with Littler Mendelson in San Francisco told The National Law Journal. "I think employers know generally what disparate-impact discrimination is. I think most employers are vigilant to make sure it doesn't happen. If they conclude that it is happening, they modify the policy so that it doesn't."
