>From the web page http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/overview.html

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:
An Overview

Mission

The mission of the EEOC, as set forth in its strategic plan, is
to promote equal opportunity in employment through
administrative and judicial enforcement of the federal civil
rights laws and through education and technical assistance.

Statutory Authority

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was
established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and
began operating on July 2, 1965. The EEOC enforces the principal
federal statutes prohibiting employment discrimination,
including:

  * Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, which
    prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race,
    color, religion, sex, or national origin;

  * the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended
    (ADEA), which prohibits employment discrimination against
    individuals 40 years of age and older;

  * the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which prohibits
    discrimination on the basis of gender in compensation for
    substantially similar work under similar conditions;

  * the Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
    (ADA), which prohibits employment discrimination on the
    basis of disability in both the public and private sector,
    excluding the federal government;

  * the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which includes provisions for
    monetary damages in cases of intentional discrimination and
    clarifies provisions regarding disparate impact actions;
    and,

  * Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended,
    which prohibits employment discrimination against federal
    employees with disabilities.

EEOC Enforcement Activities

Overview

The EEOC carries out its work at headquarters and in 50 field
offices throughout the United States. Individuals who believe
they have been discriminated against in employment begin our
processes by filing administrative charges. Individual
Commissioners may also initiate charges that the law has been
violated. Through the investigation of charges, if the EEOC
determines there is "reasonable cause" to believe that
discrimination has occurred, it must then seek to conciliate the
charge to reach a voluntary resolution between the charging
party and the respondent. If conciliation is not successful, the
EEOC may bring suit in federal court. Whenever the EEOC
concludes its processing of a case, or earlier upon the request
of a charging party, it issues a "notice of right to sue" which
enables the charging party to bring an individual action in
court.

The Commission also issues regulatory and other forms of
guidance interpreting the laws it enforces, is responsible for
the federal sector employment discrimination program, provides
funding and support to state and local fair employment practices
agencies (FEPAs), and conducts broad-based outreach and
technical assistance programs.

Administrative Enforcement

EEOC's strategically designed administrative enforcement program
effectively manages between 75,000 and 80,000 charges that are
filed annually. Under the Commission's charge processing system:

  * Charges are prioritized into one of three categories for
    purposes of investigation and resource allocation. "Category
    A" charges are priority charges to which offices devote
    principal investigative and settlement efforts. "Category B"
    charges are those where there appears to be some merit but
    more investigation is needed before a decision is made on
    handling. "Category C" charges include non-jurisdictional,
    self-defeating, or unsupported charges which are immediately
    closed.

  * Settlements are encouraged at all stages of the process.

  * The EEOC has launched a mediation-based alternative dispute
    resolution (ADR) program. The mediation program is guided by
    principles of informed and voluntary participation at all
    stages, confidential deliberation by all parties, and
    neutral mediators.

As a direct result of these initiatives:
  * By the end of fiscal year 1998, EEOC's pending inventory was
    52,011 charges, a decline of 53 percent from an all-time
    high of 111, 345 in the third quarter of fiscal year 1995.

  * In fiscal year 1998, the Commission was continuing to
    resolve charges at a faster pace than they were being filed,
    further reducing the inventory.

  * In fiscal year 1998, the Agency obtained $169.2 million in
    monetary benefits for charging parties (excluding litigation
    awards) through settlement and conciliation. Commissioner
    charges accounted for $2.1 million of this total.

  * The EEOC has made substantial progress in the implementation
    of its mediation program. From the inception of the program
    in fiscal year 1996 through the end of fiscal year 1998,
    EEOC resolved over 2,400 charges through mediation and
    obtained benefits of approximately $27.8 million for
    charging parties.

National Enforcement Plan

In February 1996, the Commission approved its National
Enforcement Plan (NEP), which sets out a three- pronged
framework for the Commission's enforcement strategy: prevention
of discrimination through education and outreach; the voluntary
resolution of disputes where possible; and where voluntary
resolution fails, strong and fair enforcement. The NEP also
identifies priority areas for EEOC investigation and litigation,
delegates certain litigation decisions to the General Counsel,
and directs the EEOC field offices to develop Local Enforcement
Plans (LEPs) which tailor the mandates of the NEP to the
particular needs and issues of their communities.

Litigation

The EEOC's litigation program has achieved significant results
in the past few years under the NEP. In fiscal year 1996, the
EEOC obtained over $50 million in monetary benefits for
discrimination victims. In fiscal year 1997, the amount rose to
$111 million in benefits, and represents the largest annual
recovery in EEOC history. In fiscal year 1998, the EEOC's
litigation program recovered nearly $90 million for victims of
discrimination. The EEOC also files amicus curiae or "friend of
the court" briefs in trial and Appellate Courts in support of
the Commission's position, usually in cases involving novel
issues. In fiscal year 1998, the Commission filed 70 such
briefs. Among the EEOC's recent litigation achievements are:

  * an age bias settlement with Lockheed Martin (formerly Martin
    Marietta) for $13 million in back pay and 450 jobs for older
    workers who were dismissed;

  * settlement of race/national origin/sex bias claims against a
    major supermarket chain in Texas for $2.5 million in back
    pay and over 5,000 entry-level and 34 management trainee job
    offers to qualified African American, Hispanic, and female
    applicants previously denied positions;

  * a $34 million settlement in a sexual harassment case with
    Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America, and a settlement
    of almost $10 million in a sexual harassment case against
    Astra USA Inc., a pharmaceutical company in Massachusetts --
    the EEOC's two largest sexual harassment settlements to
    date. These cases are notable for Mitsubishi's adoption of
    extensive changes to its sexual harassment prevention policy
    and complaint procedure, and Astra's issuance of formal
    apologies to the women involved; and

  * under the ADA, a $5.5 million jury verdict for an employee
    who was discharged from his job because he has epilepsy, and
    a $3.5 million jury verdict for a paraplegic job applicant
    denied a job at Wal-Mart after being told the store had "no
    openings for a person in a wheelchair." Although both
    amounts will be reduced based on the statutory cap on
    damages, the juries' verdicts represent the two largest ADA
    awards in EEOC history, and send a powerful message to those
    who would discriminate on the basis of disability.

State and Local Program

The EEOC contracts with approximately 90 FEPAs to process more
than 48,000 discrimination charges annually. These charges raise
claims under state and local laws prohibiting employment
discrimination as well as the federal laws enforced by the EEOC.

Federal Sector Program

The EEOC is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination
laws in the federal sector. The EEOC conducts thousands of
hearings every year for federal employees who have filed
discrimination complaints. In addition, when a federal agency
issues a final decision on a complaint of discrimination, the
complainant can appeal that decision to the EEOC. In fiscal year
1998, the EEOC received 12,218 requests for administrative
hearings and resolved 7,494 appeals.

The Commission also ensures that the federal departments and
agencies maintain programs of equal employment opportunity
required under Title VII and the Rehabilitation Act. Moreover,
under Executive Order 12067, the Commission provides leadership
and coordination to all federal departments' and agencies'
programs enforcing statutes, executive orders, regulations, and
policies which require equal employment opportunity or which
have equal employment opportunity implications.

Outreach Activities

In fiscal year 1997, the EEOC launched a home page on the
Internet to provide the public with greater access to an array
of agency information materials and resources. The new home page
can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.eeoc.gov/.
Information included on the home page consists of Annual
Reports, addresses and phone numbers of field offices, press
releases, fact sheets, and periodicals. Early in fiscal year
1998, the EEOC also added a small business information fact
sheet to its web site, highlighting select issues of particular
interest to small businesses.

During fiscal year 1997, the EEOC almost doubled the number in
annual Technical Assistance Program Seminars (TAPS), offering 65
seminars educating over 8,000 individuals in the private sector
and state and local governments about EEOC enforced laws. In
fiscal year 1998, EEOC conducted 58 TAPS, reaching 7,100
participants. Agency staff made over 2,100 public presentations,
reaching over 87,000 people during fiscal year 1998, and
responded to thousands of requests for technical assistance. The
EEOC responded to over 100,000 requests from the public,
distributing over 450,000 publications, with ADA-related
information many in alternative formats making up nearly one
fourth of the responses.

Budget and Staffing

  * The EEOC's fiscal year 1998 budget appropriation was
    $242,000,000, including $27.5 million for payments to the
    FEPAs. For fiscal year 1999, Congress approved the
    President's request for $279,000,000, including $29 million
    for the FEPAs.

  * Due to limited budgets throughout the 1980's and into the
    90's, the EEOC's complement of full time employees fell from
    a high of 3,390 in 1980, to 2,544 at the end of fiscal year
    1998. The decline in resources came at the same time the
    agency's enforcement obligations substantially expanded due
    to new statutory responsibilities. Charges under the ADA,
    enacted in 1990, currently account for nearly one quarter of
    EEOC's caseload. In addition, charge filings increased
    following the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The
    increase has been particularly dramatic with regard to
    sexual harassment charges. Overall, charge filings have
    jumped from 62,135 in fiscal year 1990 to around 80,000 in
    both fiscal years 1997 and 1998.

  * Approximately 90% of the agency's budget is allocated to
    fixed costs such as salaries, benefits, and rent. This is
    due to the highly personnel intensive nature of the EEOC's
    work in investigating, resolving, and litigating charges.
    However, it also means that only 10% of the agency's budget
    is available for such critically important functions as
    litigation support, technology, and staff training.

Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs
November 1998

This page was last modified on December 10, 1998.

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