Charge Data

Aggregated charge data are publicly available on the EEOC’s website at: https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/index.cfm

Aggregated charge data are generated from EEOC investigative case files from discrimination complaints and contain information on the nature of the complaint (i.e., personnel practice involved in allegation such as hiring, firing, wages, harassment, etc.), characteristics of charging party (e.g. race, sex, disability, age, etc.), applicable federal statute, and the outcome of the EEOC investigation (in favor of charging party or respondent).

These data have been used to document the legal outcome of employment discrimination complaints (Neilson and Nelson, 2005), to investigate EEOC enforcement practices (Schlanger and Kim 2014), and to gauge the impact of discrimination charges on future workplace employment dynamics (Hirsch and Kornrich 2008; Hirsch, 2009). The charge data have also been used extensively by a network of researchers investigating discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since 2003 67 refereed journal articles with more than 50 unique authors, and seven dissertations have been published (for the most recent see Maroto and Pettinicchio 2014). 

Charge Data