The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 93,277 workplace discrimination claims in 2009, down 2.2% compared with the previous year, the agency said Wednesday, January 6.

The number of claims filed in 2009 was the second highest after 2008, the EEOC said, and monetary relief obtained for victims totaled more than $376 million, slightly lower than 2008’s $376.6 million.

“The latest data tell us that as the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, the commission’s work is far from finished,” said Stuart J. Ishimaru, acting EEOC chairman, in a statement. “Employers must step up their efforts to foster discrimination-free and inclusive workplaces or risk enforcement and litigation by the EEOC.”

The number of charges alleging age-based discrimination in 2009 reached 22,772, the second highest ever after 2008. In 2009, monetary benefits awarded to victims from those charges reached $72 million, compared with nearly $83 million in 2008.

The most frequently filed discrimination allegations in 2009 were based on race (36%), retaliation (36%), and gender (30%), which the EEOC said followed recent trends. Some claims included two or more types of discrimination.

For information on 2009 enforcement and litigation statistics from the EEOC, visit www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/index.cfm.

Source: Business Insurance, a sister publication of  Workforce Management.