©2023 Seyfarth Shaw LLP EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2023 EDITION | 7 E EEOC Charge Data Analysis In addition to the EEOC’s annual merit filings, an in-depth analysis of EEOC charge statistics can also provide an interesting perspective on the status of the employment discrimination space. While merit filings reflect more on the Commission’s priorities, the EEOC’s charge data represents how American workers themselves feel they are being treated in the workplace. Because filing an administrative charge with the EEOC is a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit under federal antidiscrimination law, employees throughout the country regularly file between 60,000-80,000 EEOC charges per year. To that end, the Commission received 61,331 charges in FY 2021.17 This number represented a decrease of more than 6,000 charges as compared to FY 2020, in which the EEOC saw 67,448 charges filed. In fact, the EEOC’s amount of charges received has been consistently declining since FY 2017, when the Commission received a five-year high of 84,254 charges. With respect to where these charges are being filed, there are certain geographic “hot spots” in which employees consistently file the most EEOC charges. These states are highlighted by the map graphic below. In FY 2021, Texas outpaced the rest of the country by over 1,500 charges. Following Texas, which saw 6,508 charges filed in FY 2021, Florida (4,941), Pennsylvania (3,960), California (3,865), and Illinois (3.634) rounded out the top five most popular filing locations. 17 As of the date of publication, the most recent charge data released by the EEOC was from Fiscal Year 2021. Top 10 States in EEOC Charges Received FY 2021 CHARGES RECEIVED BY STATE ■ Texas: 6,508 ■ Florida: 4,941 ■ Pennsylvania: 3,960 ■ California: 3,865 ■ Illinois: 3,634 ■ Georgia: 3,362 ■ North Carolina: 2,958 ■ New York: 2,580 ■ Ohio: 2,265 ■ Tennessee: 2,256 WA AK HI MT WY CO UT AZ NM TX LA AR MS AL TN FL GA NE KS OK MO IL WI MI OH IN KY VA WV PA NY VT NH CT ME MA MN IA SD ND SC NC ID NV CA OR DC MD DE NJ RI
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