Search
The Employer Handbook Blog
The EEOC has released its updated enforcement playbook. And I have a copy.
Want to see it?
Check out the Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) for Fiscal Years 2024 –2028 that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released yesterday. It contains the EEOC’s subject matter priorities for the next several years.
But, if your attention span for these things isn’t tip-top, I can give you the condensed version courtesy of this EEOC press release. [Translation: I’m good at cutting and pasting.] Here it is:
The EEOC will continue its focus on promoting promising practices to prevent discrimination; combatting pay discrimination and advancing equal pay; preventing and remedying systemic harassment; and tackling retaliation. Changes to the SEP include:
- Targeting discrimination, bias, and hate directed against religious minorities (including antisemitism and Islamophobia), racial or ethnic groups, and LGBTQI+ individuals.
- Expanding the vulnerable and underserved worker priority to include additional categories of workers who may be unaware of their rights under equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws, may be reluctant or unable to exercise their legally protected rights, or have historically been underserved by federal employment discrimination protections.
- Updating the emerging and developing issues priority to include protecting workers affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, including under the new Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and other EEO laws; employment discrimination associated with the long-term effects of COVID-19 symptoms; and technology-related employment discrimination.
- Highlighting the continued underrepresentation of women and workers of color in certain industries and sectors, such as construction and manufacturing, finance, tech and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.
- Recognizing employers’ increasing use of technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to target job advertisements, recruit applicants, and make or assist in hiring and other employment decisions.
- Preserving access to the legal system by addressing overly broad waivers, releases, non-disclosure agreements, or non-disparagement agreements when they restrict workers’ ability to obtain remedies for civil rights violations.
The SEP comes on the heels of an announced alliance between the EEOC and the U.S. Department of Labor to coordinate the enforcement of federal employment laws like the PWFA, among others. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if that last bullet point involved some coordination with the National Labor Relations Board, too.