By law, workers must complain to the agency before filing a bias case in Federal court.

There were six bias cases reported in 1991, down from 13 the year before.

If it were a bias case, they would have destroyed it.

"Nobody can prove all the cases we have are bias cases," he said.

The burden is on us to disprove it's a bias case.

For the worker involved, it can make a big difference whether his claim is treated as a bias case or a contract violation.

They drew comparisons to other bias cases and called for a grand jury investigation.

Many bias cases, particularly anonymous letters and phone calls, are unlikely to be solved.

But with bias cases, I like to think they're spontaneous incidents.

"I think the increase in reports had to do with the fact that people became sensitized to what a bias case is," he said.