©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2025 EDITION | 54 53 | EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2025 EDITION ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP KEY SETTLEMENTS SECURED IN FY 2024 EEOC v. Dolgencorp, LLC d/b/a Dollar General, Case No. 6:21-cv-00295 (E.D. Okla.) The company agreed to pay $295,000 in monetary damages and to other equitable relief to settle a lawsuit filed by the EEOC. According to the lawsuit, a newly hired regional director in Oklahoma harassed district managers who were in their 50s and older by calling them “grumpy old men,” telling them he was building “a millennial team” and they needed “young blood” in the stores, and threatening them to keep up with the “millennial team” or quit or be fired from July 2016 until January 2018. After one of the district managers quit and reported the harassment to the Company, the company sought feedback from the district managers about the new regional director but did not investigate reports of age discrimination. Emboldened, the regional director continued harassing older workers and fired two district managers in retaliation for reporting his misconduct, the EEOC alleged. Eventually another district manager was forced to quit because of the continual harassment. In addition to the monetary relief, the company must provide training to retail and human resources managers, adopt and distribute effective policies and procedures to prevent age harassment and discrimination, and notify employees of their rights. The company will also report to the EEOC regarding compliance with the Consent Decree. EEOC v. Anant Enterprises, L.L.C., et al., Case No. 8:22-cv-345 (D. Neb.) According to the EEOC’s suit, In the fall of 2019, the general manager advised his direct supervisor, the company’s V.P. of Operations, that he was going to be away from work because he was going to the hospital for treatment for depression. Two days later, on the same day the general manager was discharged from the hospital, his supervisor told him he was terminated because the company was afraid he might harm other people. The company agreed to pay $100,000 in monetary damages and also entered into a two-year Consent Decree that requires the Company to adopt policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the ADA, ensures all employees receive copies of and annual training on those ADA policies, and requires additional recurring ADA training for all of the company’s owners, general managers, and human resources personnel. The company will also regularly report to the EEOC regarding any employees who are terminated after requesting an accommodation for a disability or taking leave for a disability. The company is also prohibited from terminating employees on the basis of disability. PART IV: By The Numbers: EEOC Data Analysis A Trends in EEOC Federal Court Filings In FY 2024 Each fiscal year we analyze the types of lawsuits the EEOC files, in terms of the statutes and theories of discrimination alleged, as well as when and where the cases were filed. The bottom line for FY 2024 is that we saw a significant downturn in litigation activity, as the EEOC filed 111 merit lawsuits this fiscal year, compared to its 144 filings in FY 2023. Although this figure still represents an increase from FY 2022—when the Commission filed just 95 merit lawsuits—this decrease in filings is somewhat surprising given that the EEOC achieved a Democratic majority of Commissioners and confirmed its Democratic General Counsel this fiscal year. Nevertheless, while the overall number of filings was down in FY 2024, a close analysis of these case filings suggests that the EEOC emphasized alignment with its strategic priorities over quantity of litigation in FY 2024. We first turn to when the EEOC typically files lawsuits. As in several past years, the EEOC once again ramped up its litigation activity at the end of its fiscal year by filing 67 cases in September alone (down from 71 cases in September 2023). In addition to its “September Surge,” the EEOC was particularly active in the spring of 2024, as it filed 19 lawsuits in May (up from 16 lawsuits in May 2023). This represents a five-year high mark for EEOC filings in May. The graph below show the number of EEOC lawsuits filed per month over the last four fiscal years. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Sep. Aug. Jul. Jun. May Apr. Mar. Feb. Jan. Dec. Nov. Oct. FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024 Cases Filed by Month FY 2021-2024 ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP
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