EEOC Year-End Statistics Show Record Levels of Discrimination Charges

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Ilyse Schuman

Glasses on top of financial reportOn Wednesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released its enforcement and litigation statistics for fiscal year 2009 ending on September 30. This data shows that 93,277 workplace discrimination charges were filed, the second-highest total for the agency, although down from last year’s all-time record of 95,402 charges. Private sector charges alleging disability, religion and/or national origin discrimination reached record highs, while the most frequent charges filed in 2009 alleged discrimination based on race (36%), retaliation (36%), and sex (30%). According to an EEOC press release, the “near-historic” level of total discrimination charges could be due to a number of factors, including greater accessibility of the EEOC to the public, economic conditions, increased diversity and demographic shifts in the labor force, employees’ greater awareness of their rights under the law, and changes to the agency’s intake practices that cut down on the steps needed for an individual to file a charge.

The EEOC’s year-end data also shows that a total of 281 merit lawsuits were filed, resulting in $82.1 million in monetary relief for the plaintiffs. Total monetary relief obtained for claimants totaled $376 million, which includes benefits gained through administrative enforcement and mediation as well as through litigation.

Photo credit:  blackred
 

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GINA Regulations Imminent, According to EEOC Semiannual Regulatory Agenda

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Governmental Affairs Team

Emblem of the EEOCThe Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has identified three proposed and four final rules that will dominate the agency’s regulatory activities for the coming year, according to its Semiannual Regulatory Agenda (pdf) released online yesterday. Of the seven regulations at issue, the EEOC’s Regulatory Plan (pdf) singles out the regulation at the final rule stage to implement the equal employment provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (“ADAAA” or “ADA Amendments Act”), and the regulations defining Reasonable Factors Other than Age (RFOA) under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) at the proposed rule stage as the most important significant regulatory actions the agency will take.

The ADAAA, which was signed into law on September 25, 2008, significantly expands the definition of disability, enabling more individuals to be covered by the ADA. In September, the EEOC issued proposed regulations to reflect that the expanded ADA definition of disability should be interpreted broadly. The EEOC plans to issue a final rule by July 2010.

As for the second item on the EEOC’s regulatory plan, the agency intends to issue a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in March 2010 to amend its regulations clarifying the meaning of “reasonable factors other than age” used as a defense against an ADEA claim. In March 2008, the EEOC issued a NPRM regarding disparate impact claims under the ADEA. In this NPRM, the EEOC asked whether more information was needed on the meaning of RFOA in this context. In light of last year’s Supreme Court opinion in Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Lab, 128 S. Ct. 2395 (2008), in which the Court held that the employer bears the burden of production and persuasion when using a RFOA defense in an ADEA case, the EEOC believes that before it issues final regulations concerning disparate impact claims under the ADEA, it is appropriate to issue a new NPRM to address the scope of the RFOA defense.

Other items on the EEOC’s regulatory agenda include the following:

  • The EEOC plans to issue a final rule on the disparate impact burden of proof under the ADEA in February 2010.
  • The EEOC intends to issue a final rule on Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) this month. Title II prohibits the use of genetic information in making employment decisions and limits employer access to genetic information, as well as imposes certain confidentiality obligations. The EEOC issued a proposed rule in March.  The final rule has already been sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.
  • The EEOC plans to issue a NPRM to update the race and ethnicity data collection method rule by making self-identification the preferred method of data collection for EEO-1 Reports. The EEOC set a target date of September 2010 for issuing this proposed rule.
  • The EEOC recently issued regulations that amend the procedural and administrative regulations to include references to GINA.
  • The EEOC intends to make corrections and changes to federal sector EEO complaint processing.

This entry was written by Ilyse Schuman.
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Obama Nominates Chai Feldblum as EEOC Commissioner

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Jay Sumner

On Monday President Obama announced his intent to nominate Chai Feldblum to serve as one of the five members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  Yesterday, her nomination was sent to the Senate for confirmation. Feldblum is currently a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she has taught since 1991. According to her faculty bio, Feldblum was instrumental in drafting and negotiating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. She also helped draft and negotiate the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) and various medical privacy bills and regulations. In addition, Feldblum is the Director of Georgetown Law Center’s Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic, and is co-director of Workplace Flexibility 2010, an initiative aimed to advance a national policy on workplace flexibility. Feldblum has written a number of articles and books advocating disability and gay rights, and has on several occasions testified before Congress to promote the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and employment flexibility to benefit older workers, among other workplace issues.

Feldblum earned her undergraduate degree from Barnard College, and her law degree from Harvard Law School. Feldblum has clerked for Judge Frank M. Coffin on the First Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Harry A. Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court.

If confirmed by the Senate, Feldblum would be the third Democrat to sit on the EEOC panel. Acting Chairman Stuart Ishimaru and Acting Vice Chair Christine Griffin are both Democrats, while Commissioner Constance Barker is currently the lone Republican serving on the Commission. Republican Naomi Earp, who served as EEOC Chair during the Bush Administration, resigned in the Spring. In July, President Obama nominated Democrat Jacqueline Berrien to serve as the new EEOC Chair.  Acting Vice Chair Griffin – who has been confirmed to serve as the deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management – is allowed to remain on the Commission until a successor is approved.

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Obama Names Jacqueline A. Berrien as His Pick to Head the EEOC

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Jay Sumner

President Obama has announced his intent to nominate Jacqueline Berrien as Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Berrien currently serves as Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). According to the White House press release on her nomination, Berrien worked as a Program Officer in the Ford Foundation’s Peace and Social Justice Program from 2001 to 2004. Before that, Berrien was an assistant counsel with LDF and directed the Fund’s voting rights and political participation work. According to biographical information provided by the NAACP, as assistant counsel Berrien represented African-American voters in proceedings before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals and the U.S. District Courts. Prior to working for the LDF, Berriern was a staff attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union. Additionally, Berrien has taught in trial advocacy programs at Fordham and Harvard law schools and served on the adjunct faculty of New York Law School. After graduating law school, Berrien clerked for the Honorable U.W. Clemon, the first African-American appointed to the U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Alabama.

Berrien earned her law degree from Harvard Law School, where she served as a General Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and received her undergraduate degree from Oberlin College.

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