EEOC Cites Winning Track Record

The EEOC says it won six out of ten cases it took before a jury over the last five years. The agency said similar workplace bias suits filed for private plaintiffs have a 27% success rate, according to the Associated Press.

Overall, about 91% of employment bias lawsuits were successfully resolved through settlement agreements, favorable court orders and decisions.

A third of the lawsuits filed by lawyers for the federal anti-discrimination agency were in sex discrimination cases, during that period, compared with

• 22% of the lawsuits were for retaliation
• 13.5% of the lawsuits were for race discrimination
• 12.8% of the lawsuits were disability discrimination
• 8.2% of the lawsuits were for age discrimination.

The agency filed a total of 1,963 suits between 1997 and 2001 with 1,212 filed for individuals and 570 submitted to a court on behalf of a class of workers.

However, even though they came in at the bottom two slots, EEOC Chairwoman Cari Dominguez said age and disability discrimination account for the fastest-growing segments of the cases because of the rapid growth of the aging US population.

The commission evaluates litigation success based on injunctive relief – court orders immediately stopping discriminatory practices; relief for victims including jobs, back pay and other benefits; and changes to discriminatory policies and practices by employers.

The EEOC obtained $409.7 million in monetary benefits through litigation, with an average monetary benefit of $263,945. That compares with $585.9 million obtained through the administrative enforcement process, with an average monetary benefit of $24,632.77.