143 New Suits, $22M Recovered: EEOC Had a Busy FY 2023

A new report from the EEOC shows that the federal agency had a busy FY 2023 enforcing federal laws that ban employment discrimination.

The agency amped up its enforcement efforts by filing 143 merits lawsuits in the fiscal year – an impressive jump of more than 50% from the prior fiscal year.

It also resolved 98 suits, recovering more than $22.6 million for the fiscal year.

If you were on the wrong end of an EEOC suit that was resolved in FY 2023, your odds of prevailing were not good. The agency said it obtained a settlement or favorable judgment in 91% of all suits that were resolved during that time.

The results were achieved in connection with a bump in the number of EEOC field attorneys, which went from 181 in FY 2022 to 210 in FY 2023.

Let’s take a closer look at the numbers from the EEOC report.

What was the most common law invoked in new EEOC suits?

Of the 143 new merits suits filed, at least one claim under Title VII was included in 92 (64%) of them.

Title VII was far and away the most commonly invoked statute, followed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (34%) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (8%). About 2% of suits included claims under the Equal Pay Act, while a single suit included claims under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).

The percentages do not add up to 100 because almost 10% of the new suits filed included claims under more than one statute.

What were the most common bases for new EEOC suits?

The most commonly alleged basis for new suits was retaliation. Retaliation was the basis for 39.2% of new suits.

Other asserted bases included the following:

• Sex discrimination (35%)
• Disability discrimination (34.3%)
• Race discrimination (16.8%)
• Age discrimination (8.4%)
• Religious discrimination (7%)
• National origin discrimination (5.6%).

Discrimination based on color, denial of equal pay and violation of GINA combined to make up just under 5% of allegations raised.

What were the most commonly raised issues in new EEOC suits?

The EEOC report separately breaks out the issues that were raised in new suits filed, apart from identifying the bases for new suits.

The most commonly asserted issue raised in new suits: discharge or constructive discharge, which was raised in 69.2% of new suits filed. Harassment was a distant second, appearing in 39.2% of the new suits filed.

Other issues included:

• Hiring (25.2%)
• Disability accommodation (25.2%)
• Terms and conditions (7.7%)
• Religious accommodation (4.9%)
• Job assignment (4.9%)
• Discipline (4.9%)
• Promotion (4.2%)
• Wages (3.5%).

Not surprisingly, harassment was most often raised as part of suits involving sex, race or national origin, while the issue of reasonable accommodation came up most frequently in cases involving religion and disability.

The majority of retaliation cases (78.6%) involved discharge or constructive discharge.

Notable shifts from FY 2022 (based on percentage of cases filed) include a drop in cases filed based on female sex (36.3% to 25.2%), an increase in cases filed based on LGBTQ status (1.1% to 4.9%) and an increase in cases filed based on religion (3.3% to 7%).

How were EEOC cases resolved?

Most (85.7%) resolutions for the fiscal year were achieved via settlement agreements.

Favorable court orders were obtained in 5.1% of cases, while unfavorable court orders were issued just 9.2% of the time.

Title VII suits produced most (73.1%) of the monetary relief obtained.

“[The report] details a continued commitment to impactful litigation that advances the Commission’s goals of remedying and preventing discrimination in the workplace,” said EEOC General Counsel Karla McBride.

What are the key takeaways for HR?

HR pros would be wise to take note of the EEOC’s areas of focus: Title VII, retaliation and discharge.

Ongoing training efforts should include a special focus in these areas.

No one wants to find out that the EEOC is investigating a charge against them. But it’s still important to be prepared just in case it happens. Here is some help with how to respond to an EEOC investigation.