The EEOC closes out its fiscal year by filing a wave of lawsuits

In usual form, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) closed out its fiscal year by filing a flurry of lawsuits. The EEOC’s 2024 fiscal year ran from October 1, 2023 until September 30, 2024. In September, the EEOC filed 50 lawsuits (bringing the total number of lawsuit filed in FY2024 to 93). 

Notably, the EEOC continues to focus enforcement efforts on eliminating race and sex discrimination and ensuring that employers are providing reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers and employees with disabilities. 

For example, on September 30, 2024, the EEOC filed three complaints in the Northern District of Ohio:

• A complaint against Morton Salt, Inc. alleging that the company had violated Title VII and the ADA by terminating a Black laborer, who suffered from gout, and had lodged complaints about a co-worker engaging in race discrimination and tampering with his car.
• A complaint against DialAmerica Marketing, Inc. alleging that the company had discriminated against a Black woman who worked as a call center agent by falsely accusing her of using profanity toward a caller and then terminating her after she reported the false accusation as discrimination and retaliation.
• A complaint against Glunt Industries and Merit Capital Partners IV LLC, seeking class-wide relief and alleging that the companies refused to hire women in production or plant floor positions and retaliated against its female Director of Human Resources who reported the disparate treatment.

42% of the lawsuits that the EEOC filed in FY2024 alleged a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), compared to 34% of the lawsuits filed in FY2023.  Following the release of its final rule and interpretation guidance in April 2024, the EEOC continues to bring complaints alleging violations of the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act (PWFA):

• On September 10, 2024, the EEOC filed a complaint in the Western District of Kentucky alleging that Wabash National Corporation, a national producer of semi-trailers and commercial trucking equipment, refused to accommodate a pregnant assembly line worker’s requested accommodation that she be transferred to a role that did not require her to lie on her stomach.
• On September 25, 2024, the EEOC filed a complaint in the Northern District of Alabama against Polaris Industries, Inc. alleging that the company violated the PWFA and the ADA by refusing to excuse a pregnant employee’s absences for pregnancy-related conditions and medical appointments and disregarding her healthcare provider’s restriction that she not work over forty hours per week. 
• On September 25, 2024, the EEOC filed a complaint in the Northern District of Oklahoma alleging that a medical practice violated the PWFA and the ADA by refusing to accommodate a pregnant employee’s requests for breaks or a limited schedule to accommodate her pregnancy and, instead, requiring her to take unpaid leave. The EEOC further alleges that the medical practice terminated the employee because she insisted she be provided breaks to express breast milk.   

The EEOC is receiving a $33.2 million dollar budget increase for the upcoming fiscal year and is expected to continue its initiative to “protect vulnerable workers and persons from underserved communities from employment discrimination.”  Notwithstanding, the results of the upcoming 2024 president election will affect the EEOC’s priorities and strategic enforcement activities for FY2025.  Stay tuned for post-election guidance from McDonald Hopkins’ Labor and Employment Practice Group on what employers can expect from the EEOC in 2025.