According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), retaliation again leads the way as the most frequently filed charge for Fiscal Year 2019.  On January 24, 2020, the EEOC released its annual enforcement and litigation data, which showed retaliation as the leading charge, followed by disability discrimination, race discrimination, and sex discrimination.

Sexual harassment charges comprised 10.3% of all charges, which is a slight decrease from the prior fiscal year.  Even so, the EEOC’s estimated monetary benefits obtained from sexual harassment charges (which does not include monetary benefits obtained through litigation) increased to $68.2 million from $56.6 million in Fiscal Year 2018.

A link to the enforcement statistics can be found on the EEOC’s website.  In addition to the national statistics, the website also contains a detailed breakdown by state.  The EEOC estimates that it obtained $346.6 million in monetary benefits through negotiations and successful conciliations and $39.1 million in monetary benefits through litigation in Fiscal Year 2019.  Both numbers represent decreases from the previous fiscal year.