What Is The EEOC Up To These Days? A Brief Overview

The EEOC just reported that of the 110 lawsuits that it filed in in the year prior to 9/30/24, 48 were disability discrimination claims filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).  Retaliation claims came in second with “over 40,” with a small number brought under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”) and various other Title VII discrimination cases. 

As I noted in prior posts, the EEOC was especially keen on filing ADA cases against healthcare individuals and companies. 

The EEOC reported that:

“The agency’s diverse suit filings were consistent with the agency’s Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) for Fiscal Years 2024-2028, which prioritizes addressing persistent forms of employment discrimination, such as recruitment and hiring discrimination and systemic harassment, as well as emerging issues and vulnerable populations. The agency also focused on geographic diversity, filing cases in parts of the country geographically removed from an EEOC office such as South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.”

It also reported that it “focused on enforcing the PWFA as an emerging issue.”

Under the SEP, unless there is a change of leadership at the EEOC, I think that we will see another year of the EEOC continuing to focus on ADA and PWFA issues, as well as filing more sexual, racial and national origin harassment and discrimination suits on behalf of what it (and I) call “vulnerable” workers - who work in remote areas or industries and and/or are otherwise relatively powerless, such as agricultural and migrant workers, hotel workers, restaurant and other hospitality employees, and women working in predominantly male workforces.