The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported the workplace discrimination charge filings in 2008 had spiked by 15 percent over the previous year with an "unprecedented" 13,000 more cases reported. Economic woes, increased diversity and demographic changes, and a rising awareness of the law may have contributed to the increase, the agency said. "The EEOC has not seen an increase of this magnitude in charges filed for many years," acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru said in a statement. "While we do not know if it signifies a trend, it is clear that employment discrimination remains a persistent problem." Such growth pressures enterprises and their security and human resouces departments to do a better job with pre-employment screening and investigations. Check out other articles on this topic elsewhere in this issue.