According to an annual report released by the nonpartisan Congressional Office of Compliance (OOC), while safety hazards are being handled particularly well in the Congressional workplace, complaints of harassment, discrimination and hostile work environment are on the increase in the last five years.

According to the OOC, the number of these types of employee complaints actually slightly decreased over the last year. In 2010, there were 105 formal requests for counseling, and in 2009 there were 108. Those numbers come out of approximately 30,000 Congressional employees. The slight decrease, however, did not make for an overall decrease in complaints.

Sources said that because many reports over the last year contained multiple allegations, there was an overall increase in discrimination and harassment allegations, connected to race, sex, age, disability, national origin and religion.

The increase of such allegations is a cause of concern to experts. Counseling reports have nearly doubled since 2006, according to the OCC. Most of those reports were made to U.S. Capitol Police and the Architect of the Capitol.

Between the House of Representatives and the Senate, the former reported a 16 percent higher number of cases in 2010. Only about 3 percent of employees in the Senate filed reports. Those numbers may be lower than what takes place in reality, though, due to ties of party loyalty among employees.

Interestingly, Congressional officers are not required by law to post information concerning workers rights or require employee training. The result is that many Congressional employees have limited or no knowledge of their employment rights.

Source: ABC News, "Harassment and Discrimination on the Rise Among Congressional Employees?," Sunlen Miller, Sep 29, 2011.