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2014 saw a 41 percent increase in the number of reported discrimination cases in D.C., according to a new report from the Office of Human Rights.
The OHR attributes the rise in reported discrimination cases to successful outreach campaigns and “innovating reporting methods,” which showed that discrimination claims based on sex were the most commonly reported in 2014.
According to the report of the 504 docketed cases of alleged discrimination, 77 percent was of discrimination in employment. 44.7 percent of the cased the OHR mediated were settled at that level, the report found, $2.12 million was awarded to complainants through settlements stemming from mediation.
Of the cases of alleged discrimination, sex, race, and disability were the most commonly reported. In the 504 reported cases of employment discrimination, there were 95 cases of sex discrimination, 93 cases of race discrimination, and 87 cases of disability discrimination, and 56 cases of age discrimination. Moreover, the report found that about 12.5 percent of cases involved denial of access to public accommodations, including 146 reports of single-stall gendered bathrooms, which “violates gender identity and expression protections in the District’s non-discrimination regulations.”
“It has been a transformative and exciting year at the Office of Human Rights,” OHR Director Mónica Palacio said in a statement. “Through housing outreach events and our #SafeBathroomsDC campaign, we have built trust within vulnerable communities and increased awareness of OHR’s work, leading to substantially more discrimination complaints received by our agency. Looking ahead, we are very excited for the year to come as we support Mayor Bowser and her administration in fulfilling her vision of expanding equality in all eight wards.”
You can see the full report below:
