The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a United States federal government agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, pregnancy, and gender identity), age, disability, genetic information, and retaliation for participating in a discrimination complaint proceeding and/or opposing a discriminatory practice.
The commission also mediates and settles thousands of discrimination complaints each year prior to their investigation. The EEOC is also empowered to file civil discrimination suits against employers on behalf of alleged victims.See and In addition, the EEOC, the Departments of Labor and Justice, the Civil Service Commission and the Office of Revenue Sharing have adopted Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures to assist employers in complying with federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. The commission cannot adjudicate claims or impose administrative sanctions.See Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 44 (1974) Since 2025, the chair of the EEOC is Andrea R. Lucas.
Process and enforcement
Authority The EEOC has the authority to investigate and prosecute cases against most organizations, including labor unions and employment agencies, employing 15 workers or more, or, in the case of age discrimination, 20 or more workers. The commissioner of the EEOC can issue charges without a complainant, referred to as a "commissioner's charge". Discrimination complaints can be based on hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages, and/or benefits, and responsibility covers:
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Sections 102 and 103 of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 Pregnancy Discrimination Act Equal Pay Act of 1963 Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Process The EEOC investigation is confidential until the charge is filed, when the EEOC has 10 days to notify the employer of the charge. Charges may be filed on behalf of someone else to maintain some anonymity, for example, a parent may file a charge on behalf of a minor child.
Alternative dispute resolution Because all federal agencies are required to offer an alternative dispute resolution, the EEOC offers mediation with external or internal professional mediators as a voluntary alternative to litigation, which typically results in faster resolutions. In the 2020 fiscal year (FY), the EEOC reported more than 6,000 mediations conducted recovering nearly half of the $333.2 million in relief from mediation, conciliation, and settlement. Mediation is offered, or can be requested, prior to investigation, or after a finding of discrimination has been issued, during conciliation. If the EEOC does not find merit in the charge, they will not offer, nor allow for a request, for mediation. The average mediation with the EEOC takes three months.
Respondent's position statement and investigation Employers have 30 days from receipt of a charge to respond to allegations prior to any investigation or mediation offering, or if voluntary mediation was used, but unsuccessful. Charging parties have 20 days to respond to the respondent's position statement. The EEOC may ask the employer for additional information such as witness interviews, an on-site interview, or personnel files and policies. An investigator will determine whether or not there is reasonable cause to determine whether or not discrimination has occurred. In FY 2020, the EEOC found 17.4% of charged cases to have merit. The EEOC says investigations typically take 10 months or longer.
Right to sue A right to sue gives claimants the right to file a lawsuit in federal court. Right-to-sue notices are granted when the agency does not pursue litigation, because the claimant requests the notice after 180 days have elapsed into an investigation; the EEOC finds merit following an investigation, but declines to prosecute; or the agency is unable to determine if there is reasonable cause that the law may have been violated.
Charges filed under the Equal Pay Act or Age Discrimination in Employment Act do not require a right to sue. Age discrimination lawsuits may be filed 60 days after the charge has been filed with the EEOC, while lawsuits due to wage discrimination based on sex may be within two years from the last discriminatory paycheck.
Litigation The Office of General Counsel, which is led by an appointee of the president that has been confirmed by the Senate for a four-year term, prosecutes EEOC cases to recover relief for complainants the agency has found to be victims of discrimination. The EEOC does not have the resources to file a lawsuit in every case where discrimination has been found and weighs the seriousness and potential impact on determining whether or not to litigate. In FY 2020, the EEOC recovered $106 million in relief through litigation of 93 meritorious lawsuits, 13 of which were systemic, accounting for $69.9 million of the relief. The EEOC defines systemic cases as "pattern or practice, policy and/or class cases where the discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, profession, company or geographic location", and all cases are investigated as potentially systemic.
Remedies When a finding of discrimination is found by the EEOC, the goal of the agency is injunctive relief, both to put the victim in the position they would have been in had the discrimination not occurred, and to stop and prevent the discriminatory behavior. This could include back-pay, job reinstatement, attorney's fees, expert witness fees, court costs, other compensatory damages, and punitive damages. Age-based discrimination and gender-based wage discrimination are not eligible for compensatory or punitive damages, but instead are limited to liquidated damages equal to the amount of back pay. Pecuniary future damages and non-pecuniary damages are limited per employee by the size of the employer:
For employers with 15–100 employees, the limit is $50,000. For employers with 101–200 employees, the limit is $100,000. For employers with 201–500 employees, the limit is $200,000. For employers with more than 500 employees, the limit is $300,000.
Investigative compliance policy EEOC applies an investigative compliance policy when respondents are uncooperative in providing information during an investigation of a charge. If a respondent fails to turn over requested information, field offices are to subpoena the information, file a direct suit on the merits of a charge, or use the legal principle of adverse inference, which assumes the withheld information is against the respondent.AAjing
History 20th century In 1941, the precursor of the EEOC was set up with Executive Order 8802 of FDR: Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC).
On March 6, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925, which required government contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin". It established the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, which then vice president Lyndon Johnson was appointed to head. This was the forerunner of the EEOC.
The EEOC was established on July 2, 1965. Management directive 715 is a regulatory guidance document from the commission to all federal agencies regarding adherence to equal opportunity employment laws and reporting requirements.
The EEOC's first complainants were female flight attendants. However, the EEOC at first ignored sex discrimination complaints, and the prohibition against sex discrimination in employment went unenforced for the next few years. One EEOC director called the prohibition "a fluke... conceived out of wedlock".
2000–2024 In 2005, the EEOC established the Systemic Task Force (STF) to evaluate how the agency combats systemic discrimination. In March 2006, the STF determined that the agency could not effectively address system discrimination without a nationwide system, but that the EEOC was uniquely prepared to fight systemic discrimination because the EEOC's broad authority, commissioner's charges, access to data, exemption from Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, focus on injunctive relief, and nationwide coverage. As a result, the commission created the role of Systemic Coordinator and Lead Systemic Investigator, and implemented programs that resulted in improved systemic expertise in the agency and all charges being investigated as potential systemic cases.
In 2008, disability-based charges handled by the EEOC rose to a record 19,543, up 10.2 percent from the prior year and the highest level since 1995. That may again be showing that because the EEOC has not adjusted many of their initial 1991 fines for inflation, the backlog of EEOC cases illustrates erosion of deterrence.
In 2011, the commission included "sex-stereotyping" of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, as a form of sex discrimination illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2012, the commission expanded protection provided by Title VII to transgender status and gender identity. In 2015, it concluded that for Title VII, sex discrimination includes discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Supreme Court upheld this position in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2020.
In 2012, the EEOC achieved a second consecutive year of a significant reduction in the charge inventory, something not seen since FY 2002. Due to a concerted effort, the EEOC reduced the pending inventory of private sector charges by 10 percent from FY 2011, bringing the inventory level to 70,312. This inventory reduction is the second consecutive decrease of almost ten percent in charge inventory.
During FY 2020, the EEOC secured a record amount of recovery, more than $535 million, for victims of discrimination in the workplace. Also, the agency reduced the private sector charge inventory by nearly 4 percent to the lowest level in 14 years. Notably, the agency increased the percentage of charges resolved and those with an outcome favorable to the charging party increased by nearly two percent, to 17.4 percent.
2025–present: changes under Trump Administration At the onset of the second presidency of Donald Trump, in February 2025, the EEOC moved to dismiss six of its own pending cases alleging gender identity discrimination: one in Alabama, one in California, three in Illinois and one in New York. It cited President Donald Trump's January 20, 2025, executive order "Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government", which defines sex as binary.