EEOC charges against North Carolina employers decline (again)

May 2022 employment law letter

Authors:

Richard L. Rainey, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP

The number of discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in North Carolina has fallen to a 12-year low. The agency’s statistics show a steady decline in charges over the period. In fiscal year 2021, 2,958 charges were filed in the state, which was down from 3,439 in the previous year. The current number is substantially below 2010 when there were 5,219 charges, which also represents the high mark of the past 12 years.

Retaliation box checked most frequently

If you’ve seen an EEOC charge, you know the form has boxes to check to indicate what sort of violation is being alleged. In many cases, more than one box will be checked. For example, someone alleging race discrimination also may claim sex bias or retaliation. In North Carolina, here’s how the most recent statistics break down:

Retaliation allegations led the way with 1,601 charges.
Disability (1,142 charges), race (1,123), and sex (808) were the next most common forms of discrimination alleged.
The least common were charges filed under the Equal Pay Act (32) and the Genetic Information Non-Disclosure Act (nine).

Notably, the number of charges in each category went down from the previous year.

What does this mean?

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