EEOC Releases Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2022

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released its report on the agency’s performance during the 2022 fiscal year (FY). The report highlights the EEOC’s efforts that advance its mission for equal employment opportunity, and focuses on several major areas during FY 2022, including addressing systemic discrimination, advancing racial justice in the workplace, enforcing pay equity, and addressing the use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions.

“The EEOC was created as a result of a strong national commitment to civil rights and continues to prove that the causes of justice and equality are greater than hatred, division, and bigotry,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. “That legacy and our work are critically important to the American people and to this administration as we rebuild the economy to work for everyone and fulfill our nation’s promise of equal opportunity for all.”

The agency reported several significant accomplishments in FY 2022 including:

• Obtaining more than $513 million in monetary benefits for victims of discrimination, an increase from the previous fiscal year;
• Resolving over 65,000 charges of discrimination; and
• Conducting more than 3,000 free outreach events reaching almost 220,000 individuals.

In the federal sector, the agency said it resolved 9,336 hearings, recovered more than $132 million for federal workers and applicants, and significantly reduced the federal hearing inventory by 25% from FY 2021 to FY 2022.

The EEOC said in FY 2022 the agency focused its outreach and education efforts on reaching vulnerable workers and underserved communities, including immigrant and farmworker communities, as well as other communities where individuals may be unaware of their rights or reluctant to come forward to complain about employment discrimination.

Agency staff hosted more than 1,000 events for vulnerable workers and reached nearly 80,000 individuals — an increase in both the number of events and the people reached.

The EEOC reported it also managed through increased demands for services from the public as the nation emerged from the pandemic.

In FY 2022, the agency received 73,485 new discrimination charges, which represents an increase of almost 20% when compared to the previous fiscal year.

It also handled more than 475,000 calls — an 18% increase from FY 2021 — and managed 32% more emails from the public than the previous year.

In conjunction with the Annual Performance Report, the EEOC also released its Office of General Counsel (OGC) Annual Report for FY 2022 describing the agency’s litigation achievements.

In FY 2022, the EEOC filed 91 employment discrimination lawsuits including 53 suits seeking relief for individuals, 25 non-systemic suits with multiple victims, and 13 systemic suits.

In addition, the agency resolved 96 employment discrimination lawsuits including 10 systemic suits — obtaining just under $40 million in monetary relief for 1,461 individuals. The report includes detailed litigation statistics and summaries of notable resolutions.

OGC’s FY 2022 merits suit filings had the following characteristics:

• 62 contained claims under Title VII (68.1%)
• 6 contained a claim under the EPA (6.6%)
• 7 contained claims under the ADEA (7.7%)
• 27 contained claims under the ADA (29.7%)
• 38 sought relief for multiple individuals (41.7%)

OGC’s merits filings alleged violations covering a variety of bases: sex (45), retaliation (32), disability (27), race (17), national origin (6), EPA (6), age (6), and religion (3). The most frequently raised issues in EEOC suits were discharge (including constructive discharge) (58), harassment (39), hiring (21), and disability accommodation (15).

At the end of FY 2022, the EEOC had 177 merits cases on its active district court docket, of which 77 (43.5%) were class or systemic cases.