EEOC on 2023 workplace d

In 2023, the Equal Employment Alternative Fee reaffirmed its standing because the federal watchdog for office discrimination, after years of pulling again on litigation exercise beneath the Trump administration’s appointees. With the long-awaited affirmation of EEOC commissioner Kalpana Kotagal earlier this yr, the company—which is led by 5 commissioners appointed by the president—now has a Democratic majority, permitting the company to interrupt its impasse and transfer ahead with its regulatory agenda.

In a return to kind, the EEOC filed 143 employment discrimination lawsuits over the last fiscal yr, which ended on September 30—greater than double the variety of filings issued in fiscal yr 2022. The company additionally redoubled its efforts with systemic instances—a particular designation used for a sample of discrimination that has a broad impression on an trade or area—with 25 such lawsuits, the best variety of filings over the previous 5 years. 

Past rising the cadence of its litigation, the EEOC issued its interpretation of recent legal guidelines just like the Pregnant Employees Equity Act (PWFA), which went into impact earlier this yr, in addition to renewed guidance on harassment within the office; the usage of synthetic intelligence within the office and the potential for discrimination has been a major focus as properly and a problem that Democratic and Republican commissioners have been aligned on.   

The lawsuits introduced by the EEOC this yr signify the total spectrum of points that the company is designed to deal with, from sexual harassment to discrimination in hiring. However the EEOC solely pursues litigation for a handful of instances that come its method, so its alternative of lawsuits additionally indicators its priorities—whether or not which means specializing in new discrimination legal guidelines or taking a systemic strategy to case choice—and presents perception into how the EEOC will strategy enforcement in 2024. 

Being pregnant discrimination

The PWFA went into impact in June, requiring employers to supply cheap lodging to pregnant and postpartum employees. Since then, the EEOC has proposed a rule outlining its broad interpretation of the regulation, which protects employees going through any pregnancy-related medical situations. In 2023, the company filed multiple lawsuits in opposition to employers who allegedly fired pregnant workers. The EEOC additionally not too long ago settled a lawsuit against Frontier Airlines that was filed 4 years in the past, alleging discrimination in opposition to pregnant and lactating workers. The case aligns with the company’s deal with imposing each the PWFA and the Pump Act, the latter of which forces employers to supply break time and a personal area for employees to pump; as a part of the settlement, Frontier was additionally anticipated to undertake new insurance policies—similar to permitting pilots to pump within the cockpit throughout sure stretches of a flight—marking a departure from norms within the airline trade. 

AI-related discrimination

Over the previous two years, the EEOC has turned its consideration to the rise of synthetic intelligence within the office—specifically, making an attempt to grasp how employers are more and more utilizing the know-how for hiring and employment selections. In Could, the company shared guidance for employers on how the know-how might engender discrimination with out the correct guardrails, together with technical assistance on how employers can guarantee they adjust to the Individuals with Disabilities Act. In 2023, the EEOC settled its first AI-related lawsuit, which alleged that the China-based on-line training firm iTutorGroup programmed its software software program to display screen out U.S. candidates on the premise of age. (The settlement features a $365,000 payout, although iTutorGroup continues to disclaim the allegations.) The company has already highlighted AI-related discrimination as a precedence in its strategic enforcement plan for the following 4 years. 

Incapacity discrimination 

Whereas the EEOC has pinpointed AI know-how as a possible supply of bias, a number of of its instances this yr tackled different types of incapacity discrimination. The company settled a number of lawsuits in opposition to employers like Papa John’s, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the tech firm Cloudbeds for failing to supply lodging to disabled employees, together with a $750,000 settlement with the electrical energy supplier PNM. Another case requires a major payout from Greenback Normal—$1 million—over allegations that the corporate required a preemployment medical examination and rescinded job presents primarily based on these outcomes. The EEOC additionally took on a lawsuit in opposition to UPS for allegedly screening out disabled candidates and multiple cases in opposition to Walmart, over claims that the retail large failed to supply lodging and unfairly terminated disabled workers. 

Office harassment

From 2016 to 2022, a 3rd of the discrimination costs obtained by the EEOC included allegations of harassment. Waiting for the following few years, the EEOC has made office harassment a key a part of its enforcement plan, to assist handle systemic harassment and defend significantly susceptible communities in opposition to harassment. In 2023, the EEOC sued Walmart over alleged sexual harassment and retaliation—amongst many different firms—and introduced a series of lawsuits focusing on harassment points at Las Vegas eating places, together with a case in opposition to Thomas Keller’s restaurant group. The company additionally settled a litany of cases this yr that alleged sexual harassment throughout totally different industries, typically coupled with retaliation or different types of harassment; one such settlement concerned a $400,000 payout from Chipotle. 

Racial and spiritual discrimination 

The harassment instances taken on by the EEOC typically overlap with different types of discrimination. That’s evident from the litigation that the company has pursued this yr, which targets a number of notable employers: a lawsuit against Tesla alleges that the corporate condoned harassment of its Black workers and retaliated in opposition to those that tried to deal with the difficulty, whereas one other lawsuit against Chipotle alleges {that a} Muslim worker was harassed and discriminated in opposition to for sporting a hijab. The EEOC has additionally sued Hooters over allegations that the corporate didn’t rehire employees who had been Black or had darker pores and skin tones after pandemic-era layoffs. The company additionally settled another racial discrimination and retaliation case in opposition to Hooters for $650,000, together with several sizable settlements with different firms and a $1.2 million payout from Whiting-Turner, over allegations that the development firm failed to deal with repeated discrimination in opposition to Black workers who had been engaged on con­struction of a Google information middle.