Employment Discrimination Charges Increased In 2007

Posted on March 10, 2008 by Rob Stalter

On March 5, 2008, the EEOC announced that employment discrimination charges increased by nine percent in 2007. This represents the largest one-year increase since 1993. Race discrimination continued to be the most commonly filed charge, followed by retaliation charges, which, for the first time, surpassed sex/gender discrimination charges. Employers also faced a record 5,587 pregnancy discrimination charges – 14 percent more than the prior record, which was set in 2006. In fact, most of the major charge categories saw double-digit percentage increases in 2007. As a result of these large increases, the EEOC recovered $345 million in monetary relief for charging parties, a 26 percent increase over the amount recovered in 2006.

These statistics can be explained just as easily by a heightened awareness of the law among employees, an increasingly diverse workforce, and increased job cuts as a result of a slow economy as by an actual rise in workplace discrimination and/or retaliation. Nevertheless, EEOC Chair Naomi Earp suggested that the statistics show that “[c]orporate America needs to do a better job of proactively preventing discrimination and addressing complaints promptly and effectively.”

Supreme Court Signals It May Address Whether "Make-Whole" Remedy Constitutes Equitable Relief Under ERISA

Posted on March 5, 2008 by Kathy Krisher

As we noted in our recent discussion of LaRue v. DeWollf, Boberg & Assoc., Inc., the Supreme Court’s highly anticipated decision avoided the troubling issue of what constitutes equitable relief for purposes of ERISA Section 502(a)(3) claims. On March 3, 2008, the Supreme Court signaled that it may be willing to address this issue by inviting the Solicitor General to file briefs in Amschwand v. Spherion Corp., 505 F.3d 342 (5th Cir. 2007). Amschwand v. Spherion Corp., U.S., No. 07-841, request for solicitor general brief 3/3/08.   Continue Reading…