Commissioners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have been making above-average use of Commissioner charges to prompt discrimination investigations, according to data released by the EEOC. EEOC Commissioners initiated 33 charges alleging discrimination under Title VII, the ADA, GINA, and PWFA in fiscal year 2024.
Commissioner charges are discrimination charges initiated by an EEOC Commissioner. Proposals for Commissioner charges come from various sources, including EEOC field offices that discover potential violations while investigating other charges, state or local agencies, or members of the public.
Although Commissioner charges have never represented a large portion of the agency’s workload, Commissioners began using them more actively in FY 2022. In FY 2020 and 2021, Commissioners filed only three charges. The number jumped to 29 in FY 2022, increased to 35 in FY 2023, and decreased only slightly to 33 in FY 2024. Interestingly, although the number of Commissioner charges remains relatively high, the EEOC did not file any lawsuits related to Commissioner charges in FY 2024.
Acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas initiated more charges than any other Commissioner during the past three years.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, can read more here.