46 | EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2024 EDITION ©2024 Seyfarth Shaw LLP B 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 72,559 charges in FY 2022. This number represented a substantial increase of more than 10,000 charges as compared to FY 2021, in which the EEOC saw 61,331 charges filed. While the EEOC’s amount of charges received had been consistently declining since FY 2017, this fiscal reflects a return to prior levels of EEOC activity and thus aligns with the Commission’s increase in merit filings as well. 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 2022, Texas outpaced the rest of the country by nearly 2,000 charges. Following Texas, which saw 6,990 charges filed in FY 2022, Florida (5,192), Illinois (4,909), California (4,404), and Pennsylvania (4,058) rounded out the top five most popular filing locations. Top 10 States in EEOC Charges Received FY 2022 CHARGES RECEIVED BY STATE ■ Texas: 6,990 ■ Florida: 5,192 ■ Illinois: 4,909 ■ California: 4,404 ■ Pennsylvania: 4,058 ■ Georgia: 3,729 ■ New York: 3,534 ■ North Carolina: 3,506 ■ Tennessee: 2,599 ■ Ohio: 2,342 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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