The Reality of Employment Discrimination

Most modern men and women are happy with the progress that our society has made over the years. We look back at the rampant discrimination of decades past and comment on how mistaken our predecessors were. While it is true, we have made significant progress in addressing the problems of employment discrimination on the basis of age, sex, race, disability and religion – how close are we to achieving the real goal of eliminating discrimination?

Many people measure our progress in fighting discrimination by the number of major federal employment laws which have been passed. Using such criteria, our efforts as a society have been hugely successful; from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to the Equal Pay Act (EPA), to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Congress has successfully enacted a host of important statutes designed to protect Americans from discrimination on the job.

But there is more to addressing discrimination than simply legislating against it. Without efficient, effective enforcement, laws are nothing more than words. According to data released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the total number of discrimination cases reported to the EEOC every year has essentially remained unchanged during the past decade. For example, in fiscal year 1997, the EEOC received 29,199 complaints of race discrimination; in FY 2007, they received 30,510. While such a small difference could be attributed to natural variation from year to year, a perusal of the numbers between 1997 and 2007 shows that the total amount of discrimination cases in all areas (race, age, gender, disability, national origin, and religion) remains virtually unchanged from year to year.

Employment discrimination is still a serious, prevalent problem in workplaces today. Despite our vaunted progress as a society, we are still struggling to achieve something as basic as equality in human rights. Clearly, the fight against discrimination still requires effort on the part of all Americans if it is ever to be won.

If you have been a victim of employment discrimination, or if you know someone who is, don't hesitate to contact our Austin discrimination attorneys to discuss your case today.