The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced a new Strategic Plan for 2018 – 2022. The EEOC approved the new plan unanimously and began implementing it last month.
As explained by the EEOC in its announcement, the Strategic Plan serves as a framework for the Commission to achieve its mission through “strategic application of the EEOC’s law enforcement authorities, preventing employment discrimination and promoting inclusive workplaces through education and outreach, and organizational excellence.” For each of these three objectives, the EEOC has identified specific outcome goals as well as performance measures to track the Commission’s progress toward those goals.
The new Strategic Plan continues many of the same priorities found in the EEOC’s previous plan. For example, the plan continues to prioritize systemic investigations and lawsuits, which the Commission believes have greater strategic impact due to their wide influence on industries, occupation, and geographic areas. According to the EEOC, though, the new Strategic Plan sharpens the agency’s focus and updates emerging issues of concern. The Strategic Plan’s performance measures contain perhaps the best evidence of this updated focus, which include greater emphasis on obtaining targeted, equitable relief when resolving charges, and ensuring that charge investigations and conciliations meet certain quality criteria.
Although the EEOC has already begun implementation of the new Strategic Plan, it is not doing so at full capacity: the five-member Commission still has two vacancies, and it is not clear when (or if) President Trump’s nominees for those vacancies will be confirmed.
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