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A Message from the Chair

I am pleased to present the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) for fiscal year (FY) 2014. The EEOC is dedicated to the efficient and effective enforcement of the nation's equal employment laws through investigation, mediation, conciliation, litigation, education and outreach. The PAR highlights the agency's major achievements and progress toward advancing our mission to stop and remedy unlawful employment discrimination in FY 2014.

Created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC enforces federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, and family medical history or genetic information. The EEOC's jurisdiction to enforce employment antidiscrimination laws and promote equal employment opportunity extends to private, state and local government, and federal sector employment. Because prevention of unlawful workplace discrimination is essential to effective enforcement, the agency also serves as a resource for all employers and provides training, technical assistance, and guidance concerning compliance with employment discrimination laws. The EEOC educates the public - particularly underserved communities and small businesses - concerning the requirements of the laws that we enforce. Indeed, the EEOC is the nation's premier champion of equal employment opportunity for all.

In FY 2014, the EEOC continued to implement its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2012 - 2016 and continued to implement its Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP). Significant agency accomplishments in FY 2014 include:

  • Adoption and Implementation of District Complement Plans (DCPs).  In furtherance of the SEP, the Chair approved District Complement Plans reaffirming the agency's commitment to a robust national systemic program, which also incorporates local enforcement priorities.  Each office's plan sets forth significant issues and systemic practices in its communities for priority law enforcement through the district's systemic program and in coordination with other districts. 
  • Challenging Systemic Discrimination. The EEOC also filed 17 systemic lawsuits in FY 2014 and 25 percent of the active docket focused on systemic matters. This is significant because systemic cases address policies or patterns or practices that have a broad impact on a region, industry or entire class of employees or job applicants.
  • Extensive Outreach and Public Education Activities. The agency's outreach programs reached more than 236,140 persons in FY 2014 through sponsorship and participation in more than 3,512 no-cost educational, training, and outreach events. The Training Institute trained 18,000 individuals at more than 420 events, including 100 field Customer-Specific Training events with approximately 4,600 attendees.

The EEOC secured $296.1 million in monetary relief for victims of employment discrimination in private sector and state and local government workplaces through mediation, conciliation and other administrative enforcement. The EEOC also secured $22.5 million in monetary relief for charging parties through litigation, and $74.0 million in monetary relief for federal employees and applicants. More importantly, in each of these categories, the agency obtained substantial targeted equitable relief to remedy violations of equal employment opportunity laws and prevent future discriminatory conduct in the workplace.

The agency effectively managed its internal controls environment during fiscal year 2014.  I have concluded that the agency's management and financial controls environment under the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) was sound in FY 2014.  Nevertheless, based on a review of agency wide materials and the assurances of the agency's senior managers, the agency identified one financial non-conformance in FY 2014, which carried over from the previous year.  A corrective action plan has been implemented to resolve this finding in FY 2015.  I am reasonably assured that the financial information and data measuring EEOC's performance contained in this report are complete and accurate. 

In addition, the EEOC maintained effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with OMB Circular A-123, "Management's Responsibilities for Internal Control."  As a result, I can provide reasonable assurance that internal control over financial reporting was operating effectively and no material weaknesses were found in the design or operation of EEOC's internal controls over financial reporting. 

The Commission also received, for the 11th consecutive year, an unmodified opinion from independent auditors.

The EEOC's accomplishments are especially noteworthy in light of extraordinary fiscal constraints and operational challenges in FY 2014, including sequestration and the government shutdown. Following two years of significant budget reductions and hiring freezes, these challenges have endangered the hard won, but fragile, progress reported in recent PARs and threatened the agency's ability to meet the demand for the EEOC's services. As an example, the significant reductions in our private sector inventory gained in FY 2011 and FY 2012 could not be sustained due to the decline in staffing and resources. We expect increased hiring achieved in the end of FY 2014 and investments in technology will enable us to more effectively investigate charges in a timely fashion while simultaneously improving the quality of our intake and investigatory processes.

Despite these hurdles, the employees of the EEOC remain committed to meeting the needs, addressing the challenges, and seizing upon the opportunities of the 21st century workforce. EEOC employees continue to give extra effort to get a job done and are always looking for ways to do their jobs better.  As Chair of the Commission, it is an honor and a privilege to work with my fellow Commissioners, the General Counsel, and our more than 2,200 agency colleagues, as well as with the Administration, Congress, our federal, state, and local government enforcement partners, and many employers, workers, advocates, and other agency stakeholders to fulfill our mission to stop and remedy unlawful employment discrimination.

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Jenny R. Yang
Chair
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
November 17, 2014