The EEOC’s Annual Reports Reflect Its Priorities and Set Future Expectations
On April 6, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its FY 2027 Agency Performance Plan (APP) and its FY 2025 Agency Performance Report (APR). It also released the litigation report for FY 2025 from its Office of General Counsel. These reports describe the results achieved by the Trump administration’s EEOC and provide insight about its activities moving forward.
The EEOC Reports Publicize Agency Efforts and Priorities
Despite staff reductions and budget cuts, the EEOC reported obtaining $660 million for 17,680 victims of discrimination. While this total recovery figure was down from $700 million in the previous fiscal year, as was the number of merits lawsuits, the EEOC touted securing a record $528 million from its pre-litigation enforcement processes (e.g., mediation and conciliation).
Of more significance might be the EEOC’s description of how the achievement of these results aligned with its strategic priorities. The APP explained that these enforcement efforts included “rooting out unlawful race and sex discrimination arising from or related to DEI programs, policies, and practices; protecting American workers from unlawful national origin bias that places foreign hires ahead of citizens; safeguarding women’s sex-based rights at work; and defending religious liberty by addressing unlawful bias against people of faith.”
In addition to the headline-grabbing DEI-related lawsuits, the EEOC also adopted a more targeted litigation approach. Sex- and pregnancy-related cases accounted for 44% of its litigation, followed by disability and retaliation. The EEOC filed ten cases based on religious discrimination, up from three cases the prior year. Race and national origin EEOC litigation, on the other hand, were down substantially — with only two cases of each in 2025, compared with 15 race cases and six national origin cases in 2024.
Employers Can Glean Insights from the EEOC’s Reports
While EEOC cases are only a part of the risk pool, employers would be wise to take stock of what these reports tell us:
- First, this administration’s intense scrutiny on DEI is clear. Employers should continue to audit their DEI programs to ensure that they comply with the numerous guidance and executive orders prohibiting equity in outcomes, as opposed to promoting equality of opportunity.
- Second, the administration has prioritized religious discrimination and accommodation for religious beliefs cases, and these faith-based lawsuits are only likely to grow, especially given the Supreme Court’s more employee-friendly standard in Groff v. DeJoy (2023).
- Third, perhaps more unknown is the EEOC’s concentration on sex and pregnancy discrimination and harassment. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) is still a fairly new statute, and some employers are not fully aware of the heightened accommodation requirements that it mandates.Therefore, employers should ensure that both their pregnancy and religious accommodation procedures are up to speed.
In January 2026, the EEOC announced that all litigation must be approved by the Commission. However, now that the new appointees give the EEOC a quorum, employers should expect to see more EEOC litigation in these priority areas.
