According to a report issued the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, only three percent of older adults who are victims of workplace discrimination will submit a formal complaint to their employer or the appropriate government agency. The report is based on research conducted by the AARP.
There are additional studies that show that as much as 60 percent of workers who are at least 45 years of age have witnessed or have been a victim of age discrimination in the workplace. Ninety percent of those workers state that the discriminatory behavior is prevalent in the workplace.
The report states that obtaining an accurate measurement of the pervasiveness of workplace discrimination can be difficult. Only a fraction of the discriminatory behavior that occurs in the workplace is represented in the charges that filed with the state and federal enforcement agencies.
It turns out that the number of charges regarding age discrimination that are filed with EEOC and local and state fair employment entities has been increasing for years. During the 2008 financial downturn, the number of complaints that were filed spike up to over 24,000.
Discriminatory terminations were the most frequently filed charges related to age discrimination in 2017. This type of charge accounted for 55 percent of the complaints that were filed.
Additional types of complaints have become more frequent than they were 20 years ago. From 1992 to 2017, the number of harassment claims related to a worker’s age increased three-fold, from six percent to 21 percent. The number of discriminatory discipline and discriminatory terms of employment complaints have also increased.
An employment law attorney may file lawsuits against employers that allowed workplace discrimination to occur. Financial compensation may be pursued on behalf of a client for the actions committed by an employer, such as termination, to retaliate against an employee for reporting discrimination.
