©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2025 EDITION | 58 57 | EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2025 EDITION ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Looking beyond the EEOC’s designated Districts, the map below highlights the number of FY 2024 EEOC filings in each state. While several of the most populated states—i.e., California, Texas, Florida, & New York— predictably appear in the top 10, this state-by-state analysis reflects a few interesting trends. For example, although the Philadelphia District led the pack with respect to District Office filings, the EEOC filed only three lawsuits in the state of Pennsylvania. Instead, the Philadelphia District focused primarily on employers in Maryland, which saw the third-highest FY 2024 filings with 7, despite having a smaller state population than almost every other state on this list. The state on this map with the lowest population (Alabama) also saw as many, or even more, merit filings than other states with far higher state populations, such as New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and California. Top 10 States in EEOC Filings Received FY 2023 FILINGS RECEIVED BY STATE ■ Georgia: 12 ■ Texas: 11 ■ Florida: 7 ■ Illinois: 7 ■ Maryland: 7 ■ Alabama: 6 ■ New York: 6 ■ North Carolina: 6 ■ Ohio: 6 ■ California: 5 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 ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP B EEOC Charge Data Analysis In addition to the EEOC’s annual merit filings, a thorough examination of EEOC charge statistics offers valuable insights into the current status of the employment discrimination space. While merit filings highlight the Commission’s priorities, the charge data from the EEOC reflects the perceptions of American workers regarding their treatment 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. Following FY 2017—when the EEOC received 84,254 charges—overall charges steadily declined through FY 2021, when the Commission received a 10-year low of just 61,331 charges. FY 2022 reflected the start of a return to prior levels of EEOC activity with 73,485 charges, and that trend continued into FY 2023. To that end, the Commission received 81,055 charges in FY 2023. This number represented a substantial increase of more than 8,000 charges as compared to FY 2022. Despite the decline in merit filings, the EEOC’s charge data suggests that workers are increasingly filing more discrimination, retaliation, and harassment claims over the past few years. 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 2023, Texas again outpaced the rest of the country by nearly 2,000 charges. Following Texas, which saw 8,221 charges filed in FY 2023, Florida (6,289), Georgia (5,738), California (5,143), and Pennsylvania (4,749) rounded out the top five most popular filing locations. Top 10 States in EEOC Charges Received FY 2023 CHARGES RECEIVED BY STATE ■ Texas: 8,221 ■ Florida: 6,289 ■ Georgia: 5,738 ■ California: 5,143 ■ Pennsylvania: 4,749 ■ Illinois: 4,627 ■ New York: 4,011 ■ North Carolina: 3,791 ■ Tennessee: 2,786 ■ Ohio: 2,665 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 ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP
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