EEOC Issues Fiscal Year 2019 Agency Financial Report

Reduced Inventory and Expanded Stakeholder Services Headline Accomplishments

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) continued to make significant progress in managing pending inventories of charges, hearings and appeals during fiscal year 2019, which ended Sept. 30, the agency reported in its annual Fiscal Year 2019 Agency Financial Report published on Nov. 19.

With a focus on agency-wide inventory reduction strategies, building on technological enhancements and new digital systems, and the hiring of front-line staff, the EEOC reduced the federal sector appellate inventory by 17.4 percent, the private sector charge workload by 12.1 percent, and the pending inventory of federal sector hearings by 5 percent. 

"We owe it to employees, as well as everyone else involved, to swiftly address their concerns," said EEOC Chair Janet Dhillon.  "The opportunity to quickly stop and remedy a discriminatory practice can be lost to delay.  It is critical that federal and private sector complaints and charges are handled promptly and fairly."

Other fiscal year 2019 highlights include:

The EEOC secured more than $486 million for victims of discrimination in the workplace. This includes $346.6 million in monetary relief for employees and applicants in the private sector and state and local government workplaces through mediation, conciliation and other administrative enforcement, and $39.1 million in monetary relief through litigation. The EEOC also secured $100.6 million in monetary relief for federal employees and job applicants. 

In fiscal year 2019, the EEOC resolved 173 merits lawsuits, and achieved favorable results in approximately 95 percent of all district court resolutions. This is an increase of 32 resolutions over fiscal year 2018.  The EEOC filed 144 lawsuits, including 100 suits on behalf of individuals, 27 non-systemic suits with multiple victims, and 17 systemic suits involving multiple victims or discriminatory policies.

More than 295,600 people participated in 3,800 EEOC educational, training and outreach events during fiscal year 2019. This included more than 350 federal sector outreach, education, and training events, which provided more than 14,000 federal sector employees and EEO professionals with information about employment discrimination and their rights and responsibilities in the workplace.

On the technology front, the agency further enhanced its online capabilities for the public and made internal operational improvements.  The online digital charge system has increased the public's access to the EEOC, with more than an 11 percent increase in the number of inquiries submitted to the Commission over last year's level.  In fiscal year 2019, the EEOC Public Portal was expanded to provide online services to federal sector constituents, bringing EEOC's federal sector online services to par with its private sector services. 

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.