EEOC Annual Report shows 92,641 cases resolved & $525 million awarded

Fiscal Year 2015 Performance and Accountability Report (PAR). This report discusses activities during the past fiscal year from October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015 that were designed to meet the priorities outlined in the EEOC Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) for Fiscal Years 2012-2016. Jenny Yang, EEOC Chair, highlighted three key areas of success in her opening message:

• Benefits for Victims of Discrimination. EEOC secured more than $525 million for victims of discrimination in the workplace. This includes:

• $356.6 million in relief for those who work in the private sector—secured through the agency’s mediation, conciliation, and other administrative enforcement efforts.
• $65.3 million in relief for charging parties—obtained through litigation.
• $105.7 million in relief for federal employees and applicants through our federal sector process.

• Challenging Systemic Discrimination. EEOC field offices resolved 268 systemic investigations during the administrative process. In doing so, the agency obtained more than $33.5 million in remedies. In litigation, EEOC resolved 26 systemic cases, six of which included at least 50 victims of discrimination and 13 that included at least 20 victims.

• Extensive Outreach and Public Education Activities. The agency’s outreach programs reached more than 330,000 people through more than 3,700 no-cost educational, training, and outreach events. The EEOC Training Institute educated 12,000 individuals at more than 140 events.

In addition, the EEOC resolved 92,641 discrimination charges while receiving 89,385 new private sector bias charges during fiscal year 2015. Both figures show increases from fiscal year 2014, when the EEOC received 88,778 new charges while resolving 87,442 charges of discrimination. Yang went on to highlight how the EEOC closed fiscal year 2015 by putting in place three blueprints that will shape the agency’s work for years to come.

• To educate the public about trends and challenges in achieving equal employment opportunity, they outlined a Research and Data Plan that will enable them to use data to enhance our enforcement work.
• They established Quality Enforcement Practices, which set guidelines for improving the timeliness and ensuring the quality of agency investigations and conciliations.
• They instituted an agency-wide Communications and Outreach Plan to enhance the clarity, consistency, and coordination of their vital communications and outreach efforts.

In the year that marked the 50th anniversary of the Commission, the EEOC met or partially met all 8 of their FY 2015 goals. Event so, the Inspector General’s statement suggests that ” to make continued progress towards the mission, we believe EEOC needs to be successful in meeting these three challenges in 2016: strategic performance management, reduction of the private sector charge inventory, and data security: multi-factor authentication for network and system access.” Access the full report here.  ]]>