The EEOC’s 2016 performance report, by the numbers
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) secured more than $482.1 million for victims of discrimination in private, state and local government, and federal workplaces during fiscal year 2016, which ended Sept. 30, the agency reported.
This includes $347.9 million for victims of employment discrimination in private sector and state and local government workplaces through mediation, conciliation, and settlements; $52.2 million secured for workers through agency litigation; and $82 million for federal employees and applicants.
The figures were contained in the EEOC’s fiscal year 2016 Performance and Accountability Report.
Resolved cases rise by 6.5%
Other agency benchmarks for fiscal year 2016:
EEOC increased the number of charges staff resolved to 97,443, 6.5% more than last year. This resulted in a reduction of charge workload by 3.8% to 73,508, a 3,100 charge reduction compared with fiscal year 2015.
The agency also handled over 585,000 calls to its toll-free number and more than 160,000 pre-charge inquiries in field offices, reflecting the significant public demand for EEOC’s services.
EEOC helped workers obtain relief by resolving over 15,800 charges of discrimination through the agency’s administrative processes—settlements, mediations, and conciliations.
In fiscal year 2016, EEOC resolved 273 systemic investigations before filing litigation, obtaining more than $20.3 million in remedies. In litigation, EEOC resolved 21 systemic cases, six of which included at least 50 victims of discrimination and two of which included over 1,000 victims of discrimination.
The agency’s outreach programs reached 315,000 people during the year through participation in 3,700 no-cost educational, training and outreach events. EEOC also revamped its Youth@Work website to provide updated resources for America’s next generation of workers.
To help small businesses, EEOC launched the online Small Business Resource Center to provide a one-stop shop to help small businesses access information about employer responsibilities to prevent or eliminate discrimination on the job.
In fiscal year 2016, EEOC’s legal staff resolved 139 merits lawsuits in the federal district courts for a total monetary recovery of $52.2 million. EEOC filed 86 lawsuits alleging discrimination during fiscal year 2016 and achieved a favorable resolution in approximately 90.6% of all district court resolutions.
The filings include 55 individual suits and 13 suits involving multiple victims or discriminatory policies, and 18 systemic suits.
The agency also resolved 6,792 hearings complaints and secured more than $76.9 million in relief for federal employees. EEOC also resolved 3,751 appeals of agency decisions on federal sector complaints and secured more than $5.1 million in relief.
