The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") issued its Fiscal Year 2014 Performance and Accountability Report ("the Report"), detailing the Agency's accomplishments during the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2014. Overall, the number of charge filings and monetary recoveries by the EEOC are down compared to FY 2013, but the Report describes the EEOC's increased focus on systematic enforcement.
The EEOC received 88,778 private sector charges during FY 2014,
a decrease of approximately 5,000 from the prior year. The number
of charges filed with the EEOC has steadily decreased the past
three consecutive years, after reaching a peak of 99,447 in FY
2011.
Through its administrative enforcement activities, the EEOC secured
$296.1 million in monetary relief for victims of employment
discrimination in private sector, state, or local workplaces, down
from the record high of $372.1 in FY 2013. The EEOC also secured
$22.5 million in monetary relief for discrimination victims through
litigation, off from the $39 million the prior year. Part of the
reason for the drop in enforcement activities and monetary
recoveries can be explained by the EEOC's budget constraints
and operational challenges in FY 2014, which included sequestration
and a government shutdown.
One area where the EEOC has boosted its numbers is in the
enforcement of systematic cases of discrimination. Systematic
discrimination cases involve employer policies or practices that
have a far-reaching impact on a region, industry, or large class of
employees or applicants. For example, the EEOC has focused on
issues including barriers to recruitment and hiring, discriminatory
policies that affect vulnerable workers, discriminatory pay
practices, retaliatory practices, and systematic harassment. During
the last fiscal year, the EEOC completed 260 systematic
investigations, which resulted in 78 settlements and conciliation
agreements. By the end of September 2014, cases involving
systematic discrimination accounted for 25 percent of all active
merits suits handled by the EEOC, the largest percentage of
systematic lawsuits involving the EEOC since 2006. The EEOC notes
that the number of systematic discrimination lawsuits is likely to
remain high in the near future because of the large number of
systematic charges currently being investigated by the
Agency.
In addition to its enforcement activities, the EEOC published
regulations and guidance on a number of important topics in the
past year. Most notably, the EEOC issued updated guidance on:
pregnancy discrimination, employment background checks, religious
garb and grooming in the workplace, and the Americans With
Disabilities Act Amendments Act.
Aside from its robust record of addressing systematic
discrimination, the EEOC generally experienced a drop in other
enforcement and litigation activity compared to last year. However,
EEOC enforcement activity may rise next year due to the EEOC's
increased hiring of investigators and technology investments in
recent months. In the coming year, employers should expect the EEOC
to continue its focus on cases involving systematic
discrimination.
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