The EEOC has reported an increase in the number of requests for hearings on federal employee complaints against their agencies to 8,193 in fiscal year 2016 compared to 7,752 in fiscal year 2015.
In 2016, EEOC secured some $77 million in relief for federal employees and job applicants who requested hearings, the agency reported.
During fiscal 2016, EEOC received 3,523 appeals of final agency actions in the federal sector, compared with 3,649 appeals received in 2015.
The agency noted that its strategic enforcement plan prioritizes resolving the oldest appeals and those that that vindicate employees’ EEO rights and/or preserve their access to the EEO process. Using this approach, the EEOC resolved 3,751 appeals, including 47.3 percent within 180 days of receipt, and 1,938 appeals from procedural dismissals that terminated complainants’ participation in the EEO process.
This resulted in 436 instances where the EEOC reversed a procedural dismissal and ordered the agency to continue processing the EEO complaint. In addition, EEOC resolved 1,810 of the 3,320 appeals that were already, or would become, 500 or more days old by the end of the fiscal year. EEOC issued 111 findings of discrimination in 2016, a 22.7 percent increase from the prior year, and secured $5.14 million in monetary relief as ordered in EEOC’s appellate decisions, it said.
