©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2025 EDITION | 4 3 | EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2025 EDITION ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP federal employees a 5.2% pay raise. Pay and benefits accounted for 74% of the EEOC’s budget in FY 2024, so this unfunded pay increase, combined with the unchanged budget allocation, created a significant budget crunch for the agency. In July 2024, Chair Burrows explained to EEOC employees that the agency had implemented multiple fiscal austerity measures, including dialing back hiring, making “significant across-the-board cuts, with deeper cuts to some programs”, including reducing travel and eliminating most training, and delaying expenditures such as office moves. Despite these austerity measures, the EEOC still faced a budget shortfall, and EEOC leadership even began preparations to furlough all employees for one day (without pay) at the end of August. No other federal agency announced similar furlough plans. Ultimately the furlough plan was not put into action, but the possibility it may have been needed illustrates how thinly stretched were the EEOC’s resources in FY 2024. Despite these significant budget challenges, at the end of FY 2024 the EEOC reported a net increase of employees over its FY 2023 levels. The EEOC’s 2,246 FTE at the end of FY 2024 represented a net increase of 103 FTE (4.8%) over its FY 2023 headcount. This overall growth in headcount continued the EEOC’s expansion during the Biden administration, albeit at a much slower pace than FY 2023’s dramatic 6.47% increase and FY 2022’s 5.92% increase. The EEOC’s continued focus on growing its workforce has resulted in significant cumulative growth over the past years, with the EEOC’s FY 2024 headcount of 2,246 FTE representing a 15.8% increase over its headcount at the end of FY 2020. The EEOC’s Agency Financial Reports (AFRs) for FY 2022 and FY 2023 emphasized that the agency’s hiring was focused on front-line positions (that is, investigators, mediators, attorneys, and administrative staff who support those roles). The FY 2024 AFR does not distinguish between front-line hires and other positions. The following table and chart summarize what we know about the EEOC’s headcount from the EEOC’s recent Agency Financial Reports:4 “Front Line” Positions Filled Total Hires Total EEOC Headcount at end of FY % Increase, Total Headcount FY 2020 260 1,939 -5.92% FY 2021 “ Predominately front-line” “ More than 450 authorized” 1,927 -0.62% FY 2022 297 352 (authorized) 2,041 5.92% FY 2023 338 493 (actual) 2,173 6.47% FY 2024 103 (net) 2,246 4.81% 4 See U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Fiscal Year 2024 Agency Financial Report (Nov. 15, 2024), https://www.eeoc.gov/fiscal-year2024-agency-financial-report; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Fiscal Year 2023 Agency Financial Report (Nov. 15, 2023), https://www.eeoc.gov/fiscal-year-2023-agency-financial-report; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC Fiscal Year 2022 Agency Financial Report (Nov. 9, 2022), https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc-fiscal-year-2022-agency-financial-report; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Fiscal Year 2021 Agency Financial Report (2021), https://www.eeoc.gov/fiscal-year-2021-agency-financial-report; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Fiscal Year 2020 Agency Financial Report U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2020), https://www.eeoc.gov/fiscal-year-2020-agency-financial-report-us-equal-employment-opportunity-commission; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Fiscal Year 2019 Agency Financial Report U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2019), https://www.eeoc.gov/fiscal-year2019-agency-financial-report-us-equal-employment-opportunity-commission; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2018 (2018), https://www.eeoc.gov/performance-and-accountability-report-fiscal-year-2018. Along with the incoming heads of all federal agencies, the Chair or Acting Chair of the EEOC under President Trump’s second administration will face intense pressure to cut programs and headcount. While as of the time of publication specific policy or budget proposals from the incoming Trump Administration or the “Department of Government Efficiency” have not been released, some sources suggest that the Department of Labor budget will return to the levels seen at the end of the first Trump Administration, a significant reduction from the current state. The EEOC will likely face significant challenges in continuing the headcount growth trend it has experienced over the past years under the Biden administration. Moreover, given the austerity measures that the Agency implemented in 2024, one can infer that the EEOC has already made significant cuts to discretionary spending, including travel, training, office moves, and other non-personnel expenditures. Thus, the new Republican political leadership at the EEOC may very well be facing a budget that has very little room to trim, other than through personnel costs. 1,700 1,800 1,900 2,000 2,100 2,200 2,300 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 EEOC Employees (FTE) at End of Fiscal Year ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP
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