New Statistics From CHRO Show Continued Rise in Discrimination Complaints

At this week’s CHRO information session, I was able to review the new statistics released by the CHRO this fall regarding case filings and dismissals.

They’ve now been posted live on the CHRO’s website here.

It’s something I’ve covered each year and I’m always fascinated by what these statistics show — and don’t show.

What’s the big takeaway this year?

The trend of increasing numbers of discrimination complaints being filed that we have seen in Connecticut since 2012 (when just 1838 complaints were filed) is showing no signs of abating.

Indeed, in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, 2616 complaints were filed, up from 2482 the year before.  Thus from FY 2012 to FY 2016, that’s a huge 42 percent increase in the number of claims filed.

Now, not all complaints with the CHRO are employment-related.

But as with prior years, that number has been going up as well.

For FY 2016, there were 2160 such complaints filed, up from 2017 last year, and up from 1559 four years ago.  Again, that’s a 39 percent increase in employment-related claims filed over the last four years!

I’ve noted this in prior years but these increases are head-scratchers.  Normally, in an improving economy, claims go down.  While the Connecticut economy hasn’t been growing a lot, it is still somewhat stable.  

Moreover, such increases are counter to the national trends which have seen the numbers of claims filed with the EEOC decrease from their peaks in 2010, 2011 and 2012.    (Though I should note that in FY 2015, the EEOC did see a slight increase — but the numbers are still down 10 percent from their peaks early this decade.)

I speculated at this week’s informational session that it could be that more claims are being filed because it’s easier than ever to pass the Case Assessment Review stage and try to get something at a mediation.  Those at the CHRO challenged that argument but no one at the meeting had a good idea of what could be causing the rise.

Regardless, employers who have been sensing that more complaints than ever are being filed aren’t far off the mark.

I’ll take a deeper dive into the statistics in tomorrow’s post.

The post New Statistics From CHRO Show Continued Rise in Discrimination Complaints appeared first on Connecticut Employment Law Blog.