Federal employees are filing more discrimination complaints, and civil rights officials at the agencies seeing some of the biggest increases chalk it up to two things: the tumult that comes with a growing and changing workforce, and a smarter workforce that knows its rights.

"Part of it is a change in the number of people in the workforce," said Sharon Eller, director of the Interior Department's Office of Civil Rights. "If there's a change in hiring patterns, or if one bureau has laid off people, sometimes you'll see an increase in the number of complaints."

According to a report released last month by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the number of discrimination complaints filed by federal employees increased 2.4 percent in 2008, while the federal workforce increased by 4.1 percent. The increase in complaints filed was the first in at least a decade.

The Veterans Affairs Department saw discrimination complaints increase by 9.8 percent — the same percentage increase in the size of its workforce. Having a bigger pool of potential complaint filers will often mean more cases, said Rafael Torres, VA's deputy assistant secretary for resolution management.

"The increase in the raw number of complaints is entirely attributable to the increase in staffing in the department," Torres said.

Bumps in the number of discrimination complaints often accompany hiring waves, Torres said. Sometimes, job applicants who aren't selected feel they were discriminated against because of their race or sex, he said, and will file a formal complaint. Also, an increase in the number of upper-level job vacancies resulting from reorganizations and retirements is helping drive some new complaints at VA, Torres said. About 16 percent of complaints filed at VA in 2008 were because employees felt they were discriminated against and improperly denied promotions.

That issue carried over elsewhere in the government. Roughly 17 percent of federal employees who filed complaints last year alleged discrimination when they were denied promotions. Non-sexual harassment was the only issue alleged more frequently in complaints, EEOC said.

Agency transformation efforts in general could be raising temperatures in the workplace, Torres said.

"An organization like VA is changing quickly, and that change can result in increased conflict," Torres said. "We're very aware of that, especially in the new administration. It's a matter of managing conflict, rather than avoiding it. You can't avoid conflict."

VA has tried to manage workplace disputes and defuse them before they erupt into full-scale discrimination complaints by giving its Office of Resolution Management more power to promote mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

EEOC said about 44 percent of the nearly 4,000 employees who sought counseling in disputes tried to use ADR last year.

"Since the end of 2006, we've tried to engage employees as soon as possible," Torres said. "If we can catch them before they've contacted a counselor and are really engaged in the [complaint] process, we can resolve about 85 percent of these disputes."

Mari Santangelo, chief human capital officer at the Justice Department, said her department plans to increase use of ADR to resolve problems before they turn into formal complaints. In August, Justice created a mediator corps program, and has so far trained about 60 new mediators.

Mediation shows many issues can be resolved painlessly, as long as the two parties sit down together to work through their disagreement, Santangelo said.

"Often sometimes it's an apology" that solves the problem, she said.

Santangelo and several other officials said their agencies have tried in recent years to increase training on the EEO process and employees' rights. They suspect that since employees are more educated and know what recourse to take when their rights are infringed, more are choosing to do so and helping drive up the number of complaints.

"There's an increased awareness on the part of employees and managers," Santangelo said. "They're more aware of their rights and are willing to share their disenchantment because of this openness."