The newly-released Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) for Fiscal Year 2010 indicates that the EEOC is making a dent in the backlog of discrimination charges filed with the agency. According to EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien, the agency “is on the path toward rebuilding and on track to make further progress in the upcoming fiscal year to more efficiently and effectively enforce the federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.” Key findings of the PAR include the following:

Private Sector Charges

According to the agency, the growth of private sector charge inventory slowed dramatically from 2009 to 2010. The year began with 85,768 pending charges, but ended with 86,338 – an increase of less than 1% – despite the fact that a total of 99,922 charges were filed with the EEOC in FY 2010, the highest number in the agency’s 45-year history. The charge inventory had increased by 15.9% between fiscal years 2008 and 2009. Of these private sector charges, 38.3% - slightly lower than the 39.7 % reported for 2009 – were completely resolved within 180 days.

Federal Court Challenges

During this fiscal year, the EEOC field offices filed 250 merits lawsuits in federal courts across the country. Of the new merits filings – which include direct suits and interventions alleging violations of the substantive provisions of the statutes enforced by the agency and suits to enforce administrative settlements – 159 were individual suits, 92 were multiple victim suits, and 20 were systemic cases expected to directly impact large numbers of individuals. Specifically, 192 new charges contained Title VII claims, 40 contained Americans with Disability Act (ADA) claims, 28 contained Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) claims, and two contained Equal Pay Act (EPA) claims. In addition, the EEOC filed 21 subpoena enforcement and other actions. At the end of FY 2010, the EEOC had 457 cases on its active docket, and 212 (46.4%) involved multiple aggrieved parties or challenges to discriminatory employment policies.

Systemic Litigation

The EEOC focused its litigation docket on “systemic litigation”, which it defines as “pattern or practice, policy and/or class cases where the alleged discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, profession, company, or geographic location.” According to the agency, the “EEOC has transformed its litigation docket to focus heavily on systemic litigation with expected direct beneficiaries ranging from 20 to thousands.” In FY 2010, the Commission filed 20 cases with at least 20 known class members, comprising 8% of all merits filings. In addition, 60 cases on the agency’s active docket at the end of FY 2010 were systemic cases, accounting for 13 percent of all active merits suits. By the end of the fiscal year, the EEOC had undertaken 465 systemic investigations involving more than 2,000 charges. Various agency field offices completed work on 165 systemic investigations, resulting in 29 settlements or conciliation agreements.

Monetary Recovery

The EEOC obtained more than $319 million in monetary benefits for individuals through administrative actions, mediation and litigation, an amount the agency claims is the highest level of relief obtained through administrative enforcement in the agency’s history. With respect to money obtained as a result of merits lawsuits alone, the Commission recovered more than $85 million in resolving 285 such actions. Of these resolved charges, 197 involved Title VII claims, 60 involved ADA claims, and 38 contained ADEA claims. Broken down by monetary recovery, the amounts recovered by way of direct, indirect and intervention lawsuits are as follows: $73.9 million in Title VII resolutions; $5.2 million in ADEA resolutions; $2.8 million in ADA resolutions; and $2.9 million in resolutions involving more than one statute.

As a result of 9,362 resolutions achieved through the EEOC’s mediation program, the agency secured approximately $142 million in monetary benefits for complainants, a record level.

EEOC Staffing

The EEOC added 198 new hires in FY 2010, including 66 investigators and 8 mediators. According to the agency, these new staff members will process an additional 6,000 charges a year.

The agency expects to release it annual report of enforcement and litigation statistics in early 2011.