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Retaliation is feds’ most common EEOC complaint

Retaliation was the most common discrimination charge against a federal employer last year.

Federal News Network Staff

July 6, 2011 3:19 pm

< a min read

By Jolie Lee
Federal News Radio

Retaliation was the most common discrimination charge against a federal employer last year, according to a report by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Allegations of retaliation saw a 2.7 percent increase in fiscal year 2010 over the previous fiscal year, according to an EEOC release.

“The federal government should be a model workplace,” said Dexter Brooks, director of the EEOC’s Federal Sector Programs, in a statement.

Brooks added, “We caution all federal agencies to make sure that reprisals do not become the usual response to complaints of discrimination.”

In FY 2010, the EEOC received 17,583 complaints against the federal government – up nearly 4 percent from the previous year.

After retaliation, age and race discrimination were the next most frequent allegations.

The three large agencies with the most complaints as a percentage of workforce size were Labor, the U.S. Postal Service and Social Security Administration, respectively. Among medium-sized agencies, the highest complainant rates were at the Government Printing Office, EEOC and the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

See agency profiles of EEOC complaints.