EEOC Issues Fiscal Year 2020 Enforcement and Litigation Data

By Worklaw Network

February 26, 2021

From Gregory P. Proseus, Chief of Staff to Commissioner Keith E. Sonderling, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):

Today, February 26th, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 enforcement and litigation data.  EEOC’s comprehensive enforcement and litigation statistics for FY 2020 can be found here (readers can also see detailed breakdowns of charges by state).

As previously disclosed, in FY2020, EEOC secured a record-breaking amount of recovery, more than $535 million, for workplace discrimination victims.  This recovery includes $333.2 million in monetary relief in the private and state and local government workplaces through mediation, conciliation, and other administrative enforcement.  The recovery also includes $106 million in monetary relief obtained through litigation—the highest such recovery since 2004.  The EEOC secured more than $96 million in monetary relief for federal job applicants and employees.

In FY 2020, the EEOC received 67,448 total charges.  The top five charge types of discrimination for FY 2020 were retaliation—all statutes (37,632); retaliation—Title VII only (27,997); disability (24,324); race (22,064), and sex (21,398).  Please see below for a summary of charges by type of discrimination.

FY2020
Total Charges:  67,448**
Race:  22,064
Sex:  21,398
National Origin:   6,377
Religion:  2,404
Color:  3,562
Retaliation (all statutes):  37,632
Retaliation (Title VII only):  27,997
Age:  14,183
Disability:  24,324
Equal Pay Act:  980
GINA:  440

**Note: The number for total charges reflects the number of individual charge filings.  Because individuals often file charges claiming multiple types of discrimination, the number of total charges for any given fiscal year will be less than the total of the ten types of discrimination listed.

Notably, the EEOC made progress in reducing the backlog of pending private sector charges, which dropped 3.7% in FY2020—to 41,951 charges—the lowest in 14 years.  This progress built on a 12.1% decline since the previous year.  The EEOC also increased the percentage of charges resolved in favor of the employee by nearly two percent – to 17.4%.  

Please contact our office if you have any questions.

Gregory P. Proseus
Chief of Staff to Commissioner Keith E. Sonderling
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
gregory.proseus@eeoc.gov