The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) recently announced its strategic plan for fiscal years 2012-2016 where it indicated that it will focus more on remedying systemic discrimination. The EEOC describes systemic cases as those “that address pattern or practice, policy or class cases where the alleged discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, occupation, business or geographic area.” The crux of a systemic case is that the alleged discrimination affects a group of individuals rather than one individual. According to the strategic plan, by the end of fiscal year 2016 a percent (yet to be determined) of cases in the EEOC’s docket will be systemic cases. This, according to the strategic plan, will provide the EEOC with an incentive to conduct systemic investigations.
All employers should take note of the EEOC’s renewed focus on systemic cases. The EEOC will likely expand its investigation of single complainant investigations in the hopes of discovering facts to support systemic discrimination. This will more than likely occur if the alleged discrimination is the result of a company policy that applies to many employees. As such, employers should review all of its employment policies and procedures to ensure that they are job related and do not adversely affect members of a protected class. Employers should also conduct statistical analysis to determine the impact of its employment policies and procedures.
Author(s): Brett J. Schneider & Raquel Elejabarrieta
