On November 15, 2023, the EEOC published its year-end litigation round-up and strategic enforcement plan, which shows its increased enforcement activities over the past year and new areas of emphasis for future enforcement.
The EEOC reports that systemic lawsuits, defined as “pattern or practice, policy and/or class cases where the discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, profession, company or geographic location,” have nearly doubled from the previous year. As just one example, a national freight trucking carrier signed a $1.25 million dollar consent decree, this year, which requires it to pay approximately 200 women who were allegedly denied dockworker positions because of their sex.
Looking forward, the EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement Plan for Fiscal Years 2024-2028 forecasts six new or broadened areas of strategic emphasis:
- Eliminating Barriers in Recruitment and Hiring. Focusing on the underrepresentation of women and workers of color in certain industries and sectors (for example, construction and manufacturing, high tech, STEM, and finance, among others).
- Protecting Vulnerable Workers and Persons from Underserved Communities from Employment Discrimination. Focusing on those with arrest records, LGBTQ+ workers, temporary and older workers, individuals in low wage jobs and individuals with limited English-speaking capabilities.
- Addressing Selected Emerging and Developing Issues. Including discrimination, bias, and hate directed against religious minorities (including antisemitism and Islamophobia), racial or ethnic groups, and LGBTQI+ individuals.
- Advancing Equal Pay for All Workers. Focusing on pay secrecy policies, discouraging or prohibiting workers from asking about pay or sharing their pay with coworkers, and reliance on past salary history or applicants’ salary expectations to set pay.
- Preserving Access to the Legal System. Focusing on overly broad waivers, releases, non-disclosure agreements, or non-disparagement agreements when they restrict workers’ ability to obtain remedies for civil rights violations.
- Preventing and Remedying Systemic Harassment. Including continued enforcement of widespread pattern or practice of harassment.
By staying informed of the EEOC’s year end litigation round up and strategic enforcement plan, employers can better understand the EEOC’s reach, financial exposure for workplace discrimination claims, and where the EEOC plans to focus its litigation efforts in the years to come.
