The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission handled nearly 100,000 claims in 2012. According to the commission’s press release, “The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)…received 99,412 private sector workplace discrimination charges during fiscal year 2012, down slightly from the previous year. The year-end data also show that retaliation (37,836), race (33,512) and sex discrimination (30,356), which includes allegations of sexual harassment and pregnancy were, respectively, the most frequently filed charges. The fiscal year 2012 enforcement and litigation statistics, which include trend data, are available on the EEOC’s website.
The press release added that:
“In fiscal year 2012, the EEOC filed 122 lawsuits, including 86 individual suits, 26 multiple-victim suits (with fewer than 20 victims) and 10 systemic suits. The EEOC’s legal staff resolved 254 lawsuits for a total monetary recovery of $44.2 million. EEOC also continued its emphasis on eliminating systemic patterns of discrimination in the workplace. In fiscal year 2012, EEOC completed 240 systemic investigations which in part resulted in 46 settlements or conciliation agreements. These settlements, achieved without litigation, secured $36.2 million for the victims of unlawful discrimination”
What the EEOC didn’t mention is that it’s backing off a bit on its aggressive litigation stance due to a combination of tight budgets and mixed courtroom results. For example, as mentioned in the EEOC Credit Report Lawsuit Dismissed article, a federal district court recently dismissed the commission’s well-publicized credit background lawsuit.
I for one, hope the EEOC focuses more on education and conciliation, rather than litigation.
