Enter to open, tab to navigate, enter to select
Preventing and Responding to an EEOC Charge Toolkit
Practical Law Toolkit 5-503-4436 (Approx. 29 pages)
Preventing and Responding to an EEOC Charge Toolkit
by Practical Law Labor & Employment
| Maintained • USA (National/Federal) |
Resources to assist an employer in preventing and responding to an EEOC charge alleging employment discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.
The number of charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) each year remains high. A total of 73,485 charges of employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation were filed in FY 2022, an increase over the 61,331 charges filed in FY 2021, in part because of a significant increase in vaccine-related charges based on religion (see EEOC: Charge Statistics).
The agency actively litigates employment discrimination cases as well. In FY 2022, the EEOC field legal units filed 91 merits lawsuits and resolved 96 merits lawsuits, obtaining $39.7 million in monetary remedies for victims (see EEOC: Litigation Statistics).
In FY 2023, the EEOC also:
- Secured more than $440.5 million in monetary benefits through its administrative enforcement actions in private sector employment and state and local government workplaces.
- Filed 143 lawsuits on behalf of victims of workplace discrimination, an increase of more than 50% over FY 2022 filings.
- Resolved more than 370 systemic investigations on the merits, which resulted in more than $29 million monetary benefits and obtained more than $11 million for 806 victims of systemic discrimination in litigation.
- Obtained more than $202 million for federal employees.
Employers can reduce the risk of financial and legal exposure by:
- Understanding the legal basics, including requirements under the laws enforced by the EEOC.
- Establishing robust policies addressing:
- anti-harassment; and
- anti-retaliation.
- Promptly and thoroughly investigating employee complaints.
- Promptly and accurately responding to EEOC charges.
This Toolkit provides several continuously maintained resources designed to help employers prevent and respond to charges of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation filed with the EEOC. It may also be helpful to employers responding to complaints filed with state or local equivalent fair employment practices agencies (FEPAs).