EEOC Reduces Charge Workload to Lowest Level in 10 Years

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that 84,254 workplace discrimination charges were filed with the federal agency nationwide during fiscal year (FY) 2017, and secured $398 million for victims in the private sector and state and local government workplaces through voluntary resolutions and litigation. The EEOC resolved 99,109 charges in FY 2017 (97,443 in 2016) and reduced the charge workload by 16.2 percent to 61,621, the lowest level of inventory in 10 years. The agency achieved this by deploying new strategies to more efficiently prioritize charges with merit, more quickly resolve investigations, and improve the agency's digital systems. Overall, EEOC resolved 97,443 charges and secured more than $482 million for victims of discrimination in private, federal and state and local government workplaces. The agency reduced the workload of pending charges by 3.8 percent to 73,508 -- the lowest pending charge workload in three years. The agency responded to over 585,000 calls to its toll-free number and more than 160,000 inquiries in field offices, reflecting the significant public demand for EEOC's services. See overall data. The FY 2017 data show that retaliation was the most frequently filed charge filed with the agency, followed by race and disability. The agency also received 6,696 sexual harassment charges and obtained $46.3 million in monetary benefits for victims of sexual harassment. Specifically, the charge numbers show the following breakdowns by bases alleged, in descending order:

• Retaliation: 41,097 (48.8 percent of all charges filed) (2016-42,018: 45.9 percent of charges filed)
• Race: 28,528 (33.9 percent) (2016- 32,309: 35.3 percent)
• Disability: 26,838 (31.9 percent) (2016- : 28,073 (30.7 percent)
• Sex: 25,605 (30.4 percent) (2016 - 26,934 (29.4 percent)
• Age: 18,376 (21.8 percent) (2016 - 20,857 (22.8 percent)
• National Origin: 8,299 (9.8 percent) – (2016 -9,840 (10.8 percent)
• Religion: 3,436 (4.1 percent) – (2016 - 3,825 (4.2 percent)
• Color: 3,240 (3.8 percent) (2016 - 3,102 (3.4 percent)
• Equal Pay Act: 996 (1.2 percent) (2016 - 1,075 (1.2 percent)
• Genetic Information: 206 (.2 percent) (2016: 238 (.3 percent)

These percentages add up to more than 100 because some charges allege multiple bases. EEOC legal staff filed 184 merits lawsuits alleging discrimination in fiscal year 2017. The EEOC achieved a successful outcome in 90.8 percent of all suit resolutions.