If you struggle with a disability, it is pivotal to address any mistreatment in the workplace at once. Regardless of the nature of your disability, you have rights as an employee and deserve justice if another party fails to respect these rights. Unfortunately, discrimination continues to impact many hard-working people every year.
By reviewing data on disability discrimination, workers and employers can recognize how widespread this problem is, which underlines the importance of taking steps to prevent discrimination due to an employee’s disability.
Statistics on disability discrimination
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that over the course of fiscal year 2021, they received more than 22,800 charge filings as a result of alleged discrimination due to disabilities. You should keep in mind that this data does not count discrimination charges that people filed with other agencies at the local and state level.
In recent years, even more people filed charges due to disability discrimination. The EEOC had more than 24,300 disability discrimination charge receipts over fiscal year 2020 and over 28,000 throughout fiscal year 2016.
Many EEOC cases involve disability discrimination
It is important to note that disability discrimination accounts for an increasing proportion of discrimination charges filed with the EEOC in comparison to other types of discrimination. In fact, 37.2% of all discrimination charges filed with the EEOC involved disability discrimination during fiscal year 2021, compared to 30.2% in fiscal year 2015 and 20.4% during fiscal year 2008.
If an employer has discriminated against you in any way as a result of your disability, you deserve a voice and should immediately go over the options you have.