Asian-American employees underreport discrimination, report finds

[The Straight Story]

Asian-American employees underreport discrimination, report finds
By Alyssa Rosenberg [e-mail] January 20, 2009

Asian-American employees are underrepresented in the senior ranks of federal agencies, and likely are underreporting instances of discrimination on the job, according to a new report from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"This community has been facing a number of misperceptions or stereotypes," ranging from "hard-working" to "anti-social," said the Jan. 9 report. "While some of these stereotypes have positive characteristics, they have become the framework of barriers establishing glass or bamboo ceilings which present from moving into the upper tiers of an organization."

A December 2005 Gallup poll found that 31 percent of Asian respondents said they had experienced discriminatory or unfair treatment on the job. But the EEOC noted in its report that enforcement actions reveal that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders file only 3.26 percent of discrimination complaints in the federal workplace.

The report's authors said that in conversations with the Federal Asian Pacific American Council, interviewees said that agency diversity programs did not include resources for Asian American and Pacific Islander groups and did not focus on the issues faced by those communities.

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