EEOC receiving fewer mental health discrimination charges

Federal employment regulators received and prosecuted substantially fewer workplace discrimination charges based on mental health conditions in 2014 than in the previous year.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last year received 5,571 new discrimination charges related to anxiety disorders, depression, manic depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and other psychological disorders, representing a 14% decrease from the total number of charges received in 2013, according to the agency’s most recent enforcement and litigations statistics report, released Wednesday.

The EEOC also resolved 4,979 workplace bias claims alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act based on diagnosed mental health conditions in 2014 — including 927 merit resolutions — the fewest on record since 2010.

The agency’s enforcement of ADA provisions banning discrimination based on mental disorders resulted in $19.5 million in monetary benefits paid out to claimants, increasing slightly over the $19.3 million paid out in 2013.

Last year marked the first time in nearly two decades that the EEOC received more claims related to anxiety disorders than it did for depression, which had been the most frequently charged form of mental health discrimination in each year since 1997.