The EEOC conducted 124 events addressing religious discrimination, reaching 9,424 individuals. The EEOC held 115 events addressing antisemitism and Islamophobia, reaching 20,141 individuals. In addition to the 111 merits suits, the EEOC also filed 13 actions to enforce subpoenas issued during EEOC charge investigations and 18 suits for non-compliance with mandatory federal reporting requirements (EEO-1 Component 1 workforce demographic reports) in fiscal year 2024. The fiscal year 2024 targets for Performance Measure 15 were to meet all deadlines required to submit the EEOC’s Fiscal Year 2025 Congressional Budget Justification and the 2024 Operating Plan and prepare the EEOC’s Fiscal Year 2026 Performance (OMB) Budget that aligns resources with the Strategic Plan.

Addressing Increased Filings of Charges of Discrimination

The partnership effort focused on providing resources in Spanish and English to inform migrant workers that working in the United States includes the right to work in fair and inclusive workplace free of discrimination. The EEOC continues to provide supervisors with the necessary training and tools to address employee development and performance throughout the employee lifecycle. This year, training included topics on leave administration, conduct/performance-based actions, and performance management for new and mid-level supervisors. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of the National Ombudsman’s Annual Report to Congress grades all federal agencies on their responsiveness to small business concerns and their compliance with the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. The Ombudsman’s most recent report, the 2022 Annual Report to Congress, gave the EEOC an “A” rating across-the-board, the highest possible rating, reflecting the SBA’s recognition of the EEOC’s strong commitment to assist this important sector of the economy.

EEO-3 and 2024 EEO-5 Data Collections Delayed

Favorable results include cases decided by court order and concluded through a consent decree or a settlement agreement in litigation. The agency is committed to resolving charges in conciliation as one of the most effective means to prevent and remedy discrimination in the workplace. The EEOC recovered $40 million for workers subjected to discrimination through conciliation and pre-determination settlements in fiscal year 2024. In FY 2024, the EEOC implemented E-File for Attorneys, which allows attorneys to submit charges of discrimination electronically to the EEOC– fully integrating data and workflow processes with ARC. In fiscal year 2016, the EEOC applied the criteria established under the QEP to a sample of investigations and conciliations to establish benchmarks and in fiscal year 2018 set a baseline for projecting future targets through fiscal year 2026. The increased goals for quality reviews in this plan will strengthen opportunities to constructively resolve cases for workers and employers through investigation and conciliation.

Policy, Guidance, and Technical Assistance

By the end of fiscal year 2024, the agency had conducted thorough reviews of closed charges to assess the quality of investigations and charge processing resolutions. Specifically, the agency reviewed 635 completed investigations as part of quality file reviews, sampling closed charges from each of EEOC’s 53 offices. The quality file reviews resulted in 93.4% of the EEOC’s charge investigations and conciliations meeting the criteria established in the QEP, exceeding the fiscal year 2024 goal of 89% for Sub-Measure 6a. Performance Measure 6 builds on the EEOC’s previous Strategic Plan with a metric focused on quality in both the private and federal sector programs.

Federal Sector Enforcement, Activities, and Outreach

To engage federal practitioners and leaders, the EEOC offered free learning opportunities, networking events, and a federal mentoring program. The EEOC also launched two Communities of Practice to the EdCon community, one on Data Science and Analytics and the other on Anti-Harassment Program Managers and practitioners. The EEOC also implemented federal sector strategic communication and social media plans to ensure EEO news was delivered to a broad federal demographic. Another priority of the EEOC during fiscal year 2024 was to educate the public and policymakers on the impact that AI and other automated decision-making systems have on workers’ civil rights and the laws enforced by the EEOC. For example, EEOC staff testified at the “Federal Agency and Industry Practitioner Hearing on Artificial Intelligence” conducted by the U.S. The EEOC provided high-quality, easy to understand education and outreach in the private, state and local, and federal sectors in response to the ongoing effects of COVID-19.

In fiscal year 2024, the agency resolved 18% of charges with outcomes favorable to the charging party, also known as merit factor resolutions. In fiscal year 2024, the EEOC received 248,255 inquiries in field offices, a 6.2% increase from the 233,704 inquiries received the prior fiscal year. Approximately 89% of the fiscal year 2024 inquiries were filed online using the EEOC’s Public Portal and Attorney E-file systems. Despite increased charge receipts, the EEOC continued to effectively manage its charge inventory and ended the fiscal year with 52,080 pending charges, a slight increase from the 51,100 pending charges in fiscal year 2023. The fiscal year 2024 target for this measure was to pilot the gathering of participant feedback, make necessary adjustments, and set baseline metrics for the measure.

It also provides quick access to the names and contact information of the EEOC’s Small Business Liaisons in the EEOC’s field offices. These liaisons answer questions from small business owners as they institute policies and practices to comply with the law. Once again, the agency demonstrated that the EEOC’s work yields a high return on investment for the American people, recovering substantially more in monetary benefits for victims of discrimination than our $455 million budget.

• The Training Institute designed customized courses to be delivered at employers’ worksites, including virtual delivery.
• Additionally, the EEOC’s Public Portal continued to yield efficiencies in case processing in the federal sector because complainants can use the Public Portal to submit their hearing requests, upload documents, view the status of their complaints, and file appeals.
• The EEOC recognizes the importance of examining the effectiveness of the Commission’s work, particularly the efficacy of intake, outreach, education, guidance, and technical assistance documents, to continuously improve the agency’s ability to serve the public and prevent and remedy discrimination.
• The agency benchmark for individuals with disabilities and targeted disabilities is 12% and 2%, respectively.
• The EEOC’s conciliation efforts are another vital means to promote voluntary compliance with federal employment discrimination laws.
• The agency has posted additional information on the EEOC’s website in Spanish, created four Spanish videos (discussed above), and pitched stories to Spanish language media that reach Spanish-speaking audiences.

Program Evaluations

• EEOC's Public Portal is for individuals who believe they have experienced employment discrimination by a private employer, state or local government, union, or employment agency.
• If we do not receive a reply after 10 days, then we will email you that EEOC has been unable to verify the representative.
• Performance Measure 13 focuses on obtaining feedback on services provided to the EEOC’s stakeholders.
• The EEOC’s Strategic Plan establishes a framework for achieving the EEOC’s mission and vision.
• Performance Measure 2 encourages the EEOC’s litigation program to continue to strive for excellence by maintaining its record of successful resolutions.
• The EEOC achieved a favorable result in 97% of all district court resolutions, and a total of 4,304 individuals received monetary relief as a direct result of EEOC litigation resolutions.
• The EEOC released an animation video on the “Ways to File a Charge,” which is available in six different languages and reached over 10,000 viewers in fiscal year 2024.

Of the 56 new hires in fiscal year 2024, 19.6% (11) were individuals with a disability and 16% (9) were individuals with a targeted disability. Moreover, 27.1% of the EEOC’s workforce identified as individuals with disabilities and approximately 7.7% identified as individuals with targeted disabilities. The agency benchmark for individuals with disabilities and eeoc portal targeted disabilities is 12% and 2%, respectively.

It cannot be used for those stages that are the responsibility of the employing agency, including EEO counseling, complaint filing, or investigative stages of the EEO process. All of the laws enforced  by EEOC, except for the Equal Pay Act, require you to file a Charge of  Discrimination with us before you can file a job discrimination lawsuit against your employer. In addition, an individual, organization, or agency may  file a charge on behalf of another person in order to protect the aggrieved  person's identity.