On January 17, 2024, just days before the new presidential term began, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published its annual performance report for the preceding Fiscal Year 2024. The Report highlights a year filled with notable monetary recoveries, an overall surge in new discrimination charges filed with the agency, and education and outreach initiatives. Soon after the Report was released, though, the EEOC was rocked by President Donald Trump's elevation of Commissioner Andrea Lucas to Acting Chair, the removal of Democratic Commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels – causing the agency to lose the quorum necessary to conduct its most serious business, termination of General Counsel Karla Gilbride, and the release of directives that reverse some of the agency's long-held positions.1 The Report now becomes a measuring stick to observe how the EEOC's enforcement efforts do and do not change in response to these forces over the remainder of Fiscal Year 2025 and beyond.
EEOC Reports Unprecedented Recoveries and Rising Service Demands in FY 2024
The EEOC recently released its Annual Performance Report for FY 2024. The Report gives the EEOC an opportunity each year to showcase the results of its enforcement of federal anti-discrimination statutes and often is relied upon by the agency to bolster its requests for budget increases.
According to the Report, last year the EEOC secured nearly $700 million in monetary recoveries, benefitting about 21,000 claimants. This is the highest monetary recovery the EEOC has ever achieved. This unprecedented total includes $469.6 million for private sector and state/local government claimants, $190 million for federal workers and applicants, and over $40 million obtained through litigation.
The Report also highlights that the EEOC saw a significant increase in charge filings: there were 88,531 new charges filed in 2024, a 9.2% rise in filings from the previous fiscal year. What the EEOC touted as an achievement in the Report, however, may now become a burden. While the empty seats at the Commission should not affect how routine charges are processed, other Trump administration announcements, such as a hiring freeze and soliciting voluntary resignations, will almost certainly leave the EEOC with fewer resources to work through this inventory and its pre-existing backlog.
The Report also calls attention to the EEOC's litigation of claims that it identified as focus areas in its Strategic Enforcement Plan ("SEP"). For example, the EEOC filed five lawsuits under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which took effect in FY 2023 and which the EEOC has identified as an "emerging and developing issue." Likewise, the EEOC's SEP reiterated the agency's intent to file claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and in FY 2024 such claims represented more than 40% of the merits suits that were filed.
The Report includes multiple ways that the EEOC advanced the rights of LGBTQI+ individuals in FY 2023. Among those flagged by the EEOC: it filed four Title VII lawsuits that involved allegations of sexual orientation-based discrimination, and three that involved discrimination based on gender identity; ran a social media campaign on harassment prevention based on protected characteristics, including gender identity and sexual orientation; and conducted 246 LGBTQI+ outreach events, reaching 27,250 individuals. These efforts are a virtual certainty not to be repeated in the next few years, though. Acting Chair Lucas has announced that "the agency is returning to its mission of protecting women from sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination in the workplace," directed the removal of the "X" gender marker and "Mx." prefix for filing a charge of discrimination, and removed materials on LGBTQI+ worker protections and artificial intelligence-based discrimination from the Commission's internal and external websites.
Implications for Employers
Often, the EEOC's Annual Report provides a preview of what is to come. In this instance, it is more likely to serve as a time capsule of a different time at the EEOC. Nonetheless, employers should remember that the EEOC will continue to investigate charges filed with it, and to take matters to enforcement where warranted. Employers should continue the blocking and tackling of publishing non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies to their employees and providing training on how to stay in compliance with those laws. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor changes and report on new trends and developments at the agency.
Footnote
1 See Rachel See and Andrew Scroggins, Trump Fires EEOC Commissioners, Testing Constitutional Limits on Presidential Power Over Independent Agencies, Workplace Class Action Blog (Jan. 29, 2025), https://www.workplaceclassaction.com/2025/01/trump-fires-eeoc-commissioners-testing-constitutional-limits-on-presidential-power-over-independent-agencies/.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
