What You Should Know: The EEOC's Fiscal Year 2018 Highlights

The spotlight was on the EEOC this past year as national awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual harassment heightened attention to addressing workplace harassment. The EEOC met the increased demand for our expertise, for information and training on harassment. But, the spotlight on that issue did not deter the EEOC's strong enforcement and outreach efforts to combat all forms of discrimination under all the laws we enforce. Listed below are milestones of the EEOC's Fiscal Year 2018 efforts:

The EEOC received over 554,000 calls and emails and handled over 200,000 inquiries concerning potential discrimination claims. The launch of nationwide online inquiry and appointment systems as part of the EEOC's Public Portal resulted in a 30 percent increase in inquiries and over 40,000 intake interviews.

Over 67,860 individuals benefitted from the EEOC's resolutions of charges, cases, and federal employees' complaints and appeals in Fiscal Year 2018.

The EEOC secured $505 million for victims of discrimination in private, state and local government, and federal workplaces, including:  

• $354 million through mediation, conciliation, and settlements;
• $53.5 million through litigation; and
• $98.6 million for federal employees and applicants in hearings and appeals.

The EEOC reached more than 398,650 individuals nationwide in 3,926 outreach events with information about employment discrimination and their rights and responsibilities in the workplace. 

The EEOC resolved 141 lawsuits and filed 199 lawsuits on behalf of individuals alleging discrimination and filed 29 amicus curiae briefs in significant employment discrimination cases across the country.

Tackling our Operational Challenges Head On

The EEOC tackled many operational challenges head on this past year, including the pending inventory of private sector charges, which has been a longstanding issue for the EEOC and the public it serves. The EEOC made progress in reducing the following backlogs: 

• Resolved 90,558 private and public sector charges, reducing its backlog by 19.5 percent to 49,607 charges --- the lowest inventory in more than ten years.
• Increased resolutions of federal sector hearing requests by 30.4 percent, totaling 8,662 resolutions, reducing the backlog by 8.5 percent, and secured $85 million for federal employees.
• Reduced the federal sector appellate inventory by 19.4 percent to 2,942 at the end of 2018. The EEOC resolved 4,320 appeals of agency decisions, including 85 percent of appeals that were more than 500 days old, and secured $13.6 million in remedies.
• Reduced the backlog of overdue Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by 7.6 percent. Requests for closed charge files constitute 97 percent of FOIA receipts.

The EEOC ramped up its role as enforcer, educator, and leader in combatting all forms of workplace harassment, promoting best practices to stop harassing conduct, to create systems that encourage people to come forward, and to hold leaders and supervisors accountable. 

To mark the 50^th anniversary of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the EEOC issued a report, "The State of Age Discrimination and Older Workers in the U.S. 50 Years After the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)" and expanded its ADEA@50 webpage with EEOC cases.

Finally, the EEOC approved its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2018-2022,  a critical blueprint guiding the agency's work for the coming years.