WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today that it secured a record amount of recovery for victims of discrimination while continuing to provide vital services to the public through the COVID-19 pandemic during fiscal year 2020, which ended Sept. 30, 2020. The EEOC detailed its accomplishments in its Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Perfor­mance Report (APR) published today.

In the APR the EEOC reports on its progress in achieving the goals and objectives outlined in the agency’s Strategic Plan along with performance and program results achieved for the previous fiscal year. 

“Despite the challenges of FY 2020, the EEOC adapted quickly, pushed forward, and made significant progress in advancing equal employment opportunity in the workplace,” said EEOC Chair Janet Dhillon. “The results are remarkable. The EEOC was able to strategically balance all tools available to effectively enforce the law, promote compliance, and benefit workers and employers alike."            

The EEOC's fiscal year 2020 performance highlights include:

• The EEOC secured a record amount of recovery, more than $535 million, for victims of discrimination in the workplace. This includes $333.2 million in monetary relief for employees and applicants in the private sector and state and local government workplaces through medi­ation, conciliation and other administrative enforcement, and $106 million in monetary relief through litigation. The litigation recovery was the highest since 2004.
• The EEOC reduced the private sector charge workload by 3.7 percent to 41,951, the lowest pending inventory in 14 years. This builds on a 12.1 percent decrease in FY 2019. At the same time, the agency increased the percentage of charges resolved with an outcome favorable to the charging party by nearly two percent, to 17.4 percent.
• Despite the impact of the pandemic, EEOC staff conducted more than 2,690 outreach events in the private and federal sectors reaching nearly 300,000 people. Because of the need to provide the public with crucial information on the interplay between COVID-19-related issues and employment discrimination laws, the EEOC prioritized COVID-19-related outreach. EEOC staff participated in 365 outreach events related to COVID-19, reaching more than 50,000 individuals.
• The EEOC’s popular mediation program continued to show positive results, as the agency adapted to providing mediations remotely during the pandemic. The EEOC conducted more than 6,700 successful mediations resulting in $156.6 million in benefits to charging parties without the need for costly litigation. Since the mediation program was first implemented in 1999, the agency has conducted nearly 245,000 mediations, resolving over 175,000 charges and obtaining over $3 billion in benefits for aggrieved individuals – all within an average processing time of 100 days.

The EEOC’s Fiscal Year 2020 Agency Financial Report was posted on Nov. 19, 2020.

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employ­ment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.