For the second year in a row, there was a notable increase in discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity, according to the EEOC’s FY 2023 enforcement and litigation statistics. Fiscal year (FY) 2023 covers October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023.
The agency received 81,055 discrimination charges in FY 2023, a 10% increase from the year before. This is the highest number of charges filed since FY 2017.
As has been the case for 16 years, unlawful retaliation was the most common charge allegation, cited in nearly 60% of charges filed in FY 2023. The next most common claim was unlawful harassment, which appears in nearly 40% of charge filings. Disability discrimination, race discrimination, and sex discrimination were grouped together as the next most frequent alleged bases of discrimination.
Litigation activity statistics show that EEOC lawyers filed 143 lawsuits on the merits in FY 2023, a substantial increase from the 91 filed the previous year. Most of these lawsuits alleged violations of either Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), or both.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, can read more here.