In an email to staff, EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien warned that a drop in funding may necessitate the consideration of furloughs for the agency’s 1,800 employees.
On September 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $359 million EEOC budget for fiscal year 2012 – a decrease of $7.3 million from the fiscal year 2011 budget.
In her email, Ms. Berrien is reported to have said “I understand the serious consequences of these decisions. I will do everything I can to avoid furloughs, and, if they are necessary, lessen the impact on our staff and the mission of the agency.”
The Senate Appropriations Committee budget report stated the proposed cuts would “regrettably reverse” the EEOC’s progress in reducing its case backlog. EEOC is expecting 108,000 discrimination charges to be filed by the end of fiscal year 2012, with the goal of having 93,000 end-of-year pending cases.
According to the budget report:
“Budget cuts and expanding enforcement responsibilities will make EEOC hard-pressed to meet this goal, leaving the commission with an erosion of its mission-critical staff, increased discrimination charge inventory, limits on its litigation docket, diminished employment sector enforcement efforts and delayed customer service.”
Gerald Maatman of Seyfarth Shaw predicts that because the EEOC will be under greater pressure to do more with less, the agency may shift tactics and strategies to manage this high-pressure environment. He believes that EEOC will have “no choice” but to focus on large-scale cases, and resources will be shifted to “big-ticket litigation.”
This shift may provide employers with early-out opportunities in the single-claimant space, according to Mr. Maatman, and the EEOC may seek Consent Decrees more readily in relatively low-stakes matters.
Mr. Maatman’s prediction for fiscal year 2012: “FY 2012 will be an interesting year, presenting unprecedented challenges – and perhaps opportunities – for employers targeted by EEOC litigation.”
[...] As Gerald Maatman predicted last October, the decrease of $7.3 million in the EEOC’s budget would mean shifting tactics and strategies toward claims of systemic discrimination. It would appear as though this prediction has come to pass. [...]