Discrimination charges against employers last year jumped to the highest number since 2002. With all the emphasis on following the law and training supervisors, why do things seem to be getting worse?

First the numbers:

• EEOC fielded 82,792 discrimination complaints against employers in 2007. Compared to 2006, that represents the biggest one-year jump (9%) since the 1990s.
• Race and sex discrimination led in the number of the charges, but instances of pregnancy discrimination hit a record high for that category – 5,587.
• Companies paid out $345 million in damages as a result of the charges, up from $274 million the year before.

So, let’s repeat the question: With all the emphasis on educating supervisors and complying with the law, why do things seem to be getting worse? And can HR do any more than it’s doing now to help? Maybe, but there are factors to consider when adjusting your approach to stemming bias charges:

More men are suing. The percentage of men filing charges has nearly doubled since the 1990s. That might indicate that HR departments – sensitive to the dangers of sexual harassment – emphasize stopping discrimination against women but pay too little attention to offenses against men, including sexual harassment.

Pay and benefits have been flattening out. People who get less tend to sue more. An angry employee is much more likely to call a lawyer. If your organization has been cutting back on pay and bennies, you may need to step up efforts to prevent bias suits.

Employees are more savvy about the law. For a long time, laws like FMLA were overlooked and misunderstood. No longer. Anti-discrimination laws have matured, and so has employees’ knowledge. In your training you’ll need to be sure your managers are at least as savvy.

EEOC got tougher. In 2007, the agency enacted a plan in which local investigators get “performance-based” incentives. Translation: They got bonuses for uncovering discrimination and harassment cases, especially those that could be turned into big-money class-action suits against employers.

In short, the problem isn’t HR’s fault, but there are steps HR can take to address the problem.

You can start my making sure managers are trained and understand the importance of the training. (It might not hurt to show them the statistics above.)

And now more than ever is the time that you ans managers need to keep taking the pulse of the workforce. Are people angry? If so, managers can at least show they understand and maybe do a little something, such as offering small “atta-boy” incentives to lessen the anger.

Anything that keeps you out of court is a good idea and worth the effort.

Tags: bias, discrimination, eeoc, FMLA, sex discrimination, sexual harassment