Seyfarth Synopsis: With the EEOC's Fiscal Year ending on September 30, 2017, loyal blog readers know that our firm has been busy analyzing the major trends of FY 2017 on the EEOC litigation front. In this video, Jerry Maatman of Seyfarth Shaw, LLP provides an overview of the highlights from the EEOC's "litigation scorecard" for the 2017 Fiscal Year. Jerry touches on this year's overall filing trends, tracks the importance of Equal Pay claims filed, and lastly, gives our readers some ideas on possible implications for the future of the EEOC. Remember, if you are interested in the filing trends of the EEOC or in complex discrimination law in general, stay tuned for our full analysis of the 2017 EEOC Fiscal Year that comes out in late December.

Summary

2017 was a very interesting Fiscal Year for the EEOC. Though many predicted that EEOC filings would decrease in 2017 with the arrival of the Trump Administration, numbers were up by more than 50 filings in comparison to 2016. In fact, the month of September saw 88 filings alone, including 21 in the final 48 hours. Equal Pay claims were no exception to this trend. As Acting EEOC Chair Vicki Lipnic predicted during her presentation at Seyfarth Shaw in February 2017, the EEOC committed to focusing on Equal Pay Act filings. 11 of this year's 184 merit filings involved Equal Pay claims, which nearly doubled last year's total.

In terms of the future, the changes brought by the Trump Administration are still in the process of working themselves down into the rank and file of many federal agencies. As is emphasized above, EEOC filing numbers climbed back to numbers from past years. Changes in top personnel will have an impact on how the EEOC pursues its enforcement agenda – although exactly what that impact will be remains to be seen.

Loyal blog readers should stay tuned for our continued analysis of FY 2017 EEOC filings, and our thoughts about what employers should keep an eye on as we enter FY 2018. We look forward to keeping you in the loop all year long!

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