EEOC Wins Nearly $500 Million for Victims of Discrimination in 2017
- posted: Jan. 18, 2018
- Whistleblower Litigation
In a news release posted on its website, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports it won nearly $500 million for victims of workplace discrimination in 2017. It also managed to reduce its backlog of unresolved discrimination charges to the lowest levels in about a decade.
The EEOC secured about $484 million in total. Of that amount, $355.6 million came in the form of monetary relief for people working in the private sector and state and local government jobs, through both mediation and administrative enforcement. Another $42.4 million came as compensation for charging parties via litigation, while $86 million came in the form of compensation for federal employees and applicants.
The EEOC was quite busy in 2017, resolving 99,109 charges and reducing the charge workload to 61,621. That marked a 16.2 percent drop to get to the lowest level of unresolved charges the commission has had since 2007.
The commission also filed 184 merits lawsuits, including 124 on behalf of individuals, 30 non-systemic lawsuits that had multiple victims and 30 systemic suits. This total figure more than doubled the number of lawsuits in 2016.
Government agencies take reports seriously
Between the EEOC, the SEC Office of the Whistleblower and various other government agencies that handle reports of employer wrongdoing, the federal government has been active investigating claims in 2017. Whistleblowers have been emboldened to come forward and tell government officials what they know, in large part because greater federal protections afforded to them in recent years.
To learn more about your options if you’ve become aware of illegal activity within your workplace, speak with an experienced Dallas lawyer at Whistleblower Law for Managers.
