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EEOC Reports Securing $525M in 2015 for Victims of Discrimination

EEOC Reports Record-Breaking Success following 50th Anniversary in 2015

The year 2015 was record-breaking for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC reported that it secured more than $525 million for victims of discrimination.

This past year was the EEOC’s 50th Anniversary since it was established on July 2, 1965 following the implementation of the 1964 Civil Right’s Act. It was also a year for record success with EEOC cases as hundreds of millions of dollars were paid to the victims of workplace discrimination.

According to the EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang, “[t]his is a pivotal moment to renew our national commitment to combating discrimination. There is a growing awareness-across racial and ethnic lines-that we must do more as a country to address issues of equality. As we look ahead to the challenges that remain, our country must continue to invest the resources necessary to fulfill the promise of equal employment opportunity.”

The 2015 fiscal year ended on September 2015, and following this date, the EEOC published the annual performance report.

EEOC Reports for Discrimination in the Workplace

In 2015, the EEOC secured a total of $525 million for victims of discrimination in the workplace to include private as well as local, state, and federal government workplaces. Of this figure, $356.6 million was secured through mediation, conciliation, and settlements of private sector as well as state and local government places of work, and $65.3 million went to charging parties through litigation by the EEOC. The remaining figure of $105.7 million was secured for federal employees and employment applicants.

EEOC Resolved Discriminatory Company Policies

The EEOC reports that in each of these categories, the agency obtained substantial changes to discriminatory practices to remedy violations of equal employment opportunity laws in order to prevent the particular discriminatory conduct in the workplace from happening in the future.

The EEOC addressed issues such as patterns of discrimination or discriminatory practices and policies that have a broader impact across groups of people in a region, in a particular industry, or with particular groups of employees and job applicants.

Among these systemic cases, 268 investigations were resolved before filing litigation, obtaining more than $33.5 million to victims of workplace discrimination. A remaining 26 systemic cases were resolved in litigation with 6 cases to include at least 50 victims and 13 cases to include at least 20 victims of discrimination.

Through the fiscal year 2015, the EEOC filed 142 lawsuits alleging discrimination. Of this number, 100 individual suits and 42 suits including multiple victims or widespread discriminatory policies (rather than discriminatory treatment) were filed, of which 16 were systemic suits. In total, in 2015, 155 lawsuits alleging discrimination were resolved by EEOC legal staff, and by the close of the year, there were 218 cases on active docket. Among the active cases, 40 or 18 percent of these cases involved multiple victims and 48 cases or 22 percent of the total number of active cases pertained to challenges to systemic discrimination.

Record Success Rates with EEOC Cases

During the fiscal year 2015, the EEOC reported record successes with the conciliation of private workplace discrimination cases. Among these cases, 44 percent were resolved as the result of conciliations and 64 percent of systemic investigations resulted in voluntary resolutions. The final figures showed that charge resolutions had increased by 6 percent from the previous fiscal year of 2014, as the total number of resolutions increased from 89,385 in 2014 to 92,641 in 2015.

These figures reflect a full docket and stretched resources at the EEOC. Unfortunately, these reported figures and statistics do not reflect the importance the role of experienced counsel may play in the successful administration and prosecution of your private charge of discrimination. If you have filed or believe you have the basis to file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC, there are opportunities experienced legal counsel may utilize to most effectively represent your interests before this agency (and its State counterparts).

Are you or is someone you know the victim of discrimination in the workplace?

Then you need a steadfast advocate for your employee rights. The employment law attorneys at Wenzel Fenton Cabassa, P. A., fight aggressively to secure justice in the workplace. Contact WFC today for an evaluation of your case.

SOURCES:

EEOC Issues Performance Report: More than $525M in FY 2015

EEOC Issues Fiscal Year 2015 Performance Report

Please Note: At the time this article was written, the information contained within it was current based on the prevailing law at the time. Laws and precedents are subject to change, so this information may not be up to date. Always speak with a law firm regarding any legal situation to get the most current information available.

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