Study: Colorado Leads In Religious Discrimination Complaints

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A U.S. human resources company has reported Colorado leads the nation in complaints based on religious discrimination.

The Gazette reported Tuesday that for every 100,000 people, Colorado ranks first in religious discrimination complaints averaging 1.1 and ranks second in national origin complaints averaging 3.1. Company officials say Colorado averages 33.5 discrimination complaints overall, around the nation's average, but saw a decrease in complaints based on age, religion and color or race.

The New York-based company Paychex studied about 917,000 discrimination complaints filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission between 2009 and 2018.

The study includes types of discrimination based on physical traits, appearance and pay gaps, but not discrimination based on public accommodation, gender identity or sexual orientation, a separate category in Colorado law since 2008 for LGBTQ complaints.