©2026 Seyfarth Shaw LLP EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2026 EDITION | 10 Preventing and Remedying Systemic Harassment. The sixth strategic priority is preventing and remedying systemic harassment, both in-person and online. This priority is directed at harassment, including sexual harassment and harassment based on sex, race, disability, age, national origin, religion, and color. This strategic priority will continue to focus on systemic cases. The EEOC views harassment as an ongoing and serious issue in the U.S. workplace. The EEOC has had ample opportunity to shape the law of sexual harassment through its litigation activities. Those cases often hinge on two issues: whether the alleged actions rise to the level of unlawful harassment, and whether an employer can be held liable for harassment perpetrated by employees. In FY 2025, there was a total of 28 cases involving harassment claims and 24 of those cases alleged sexual harassment. Additional information on this strategic priority and related case filings appears in Part II(G). Of note, the FY 2024-2028 SEP expressly calls out harassment based on pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation. As noted above, while protections for pregnant workers has remained a priority under this administration, issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation have been de‑prioritized and in some instances abandoned entirely. Continued Reliance on Systemic Investigations and Litigation to Advance Strategic Goals. In the FY 2024-2028 SEP, the “Commission once again reaffirms its commitment to the agency’s systemic program.” The EEOC traditionally looks to its SEP priorities to decide what types of systemic investigations and cases to pursue. As discussed above, however, the EEOC’s actual enforcement trends under the new administration have veered far from what is in the current written document, which itself is due for an overhaul now that the EEOC has a quorum. While FY 2025 was a quiet year in terms of EEOC litigation, a close analysis of the EEOC’s strategic litigation decisions can help employers identify key compliance areas going forward. For instance, although the EEOC under the Trump administration is unlikely to pursue LGBTQI+-related litigation, the Commission remains focused on vigorously enforcing pregnancy and disability discrimination laws in the workplace. Lawsuits over workplace DEI programs are likely to be another priority. 3. EEOC and Wage Hour Division Memorandum of Understanding On September 13, 2023, the EEOC and the Department of Labor Wage Hour Division (WHD) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) enabling information sharing, joint investigations, training, and outreach.16 The MOU empowers the agencies’ field staff to coordinate efforts on both individual matters and larger investigations.17 The MOU’s information-sharing and other contemplated coordinated activity provisions cover a broad range of activities, touching on all aspects of EEOC and WHD jurisdiction. For example, the MOU explicitly describes that each agency will make complaint referrals to the other, that the two will share complaint or investigative files, EEO-1 reports and FLSA records, and “statistical analyses or summaries,” and that the agencies “will explore ways to efficiently facilitate” the data sharing. Information sharing under the MOU is not limited to just top-level agency officials in Washington, DC; leadership from each agency’s District (or Regional) offices may request information without the need to first obtain approval from HQ in Washington, DC. Importantly, the EEOC District Directors and Regional Attorneys may also designate other EEOC employees to make the request. This means that front-line EEOC staff involved in enforcement and litigation can quickly assess a wide range of information held by WHD. It is also noteworthy that the MOU allows any EEOC Commissioner to directly request information from WHD, without first channeling the request through EEOC career staff. This is significant because it enables EEOC Commissioners from different political parties than the Chair to obtain information directly from WHD. 16 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Memorandum of Understanding Between the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, https://www.eeoc.gov/memorandum-understanding-between-us-department-labor-wageand-hour-division-and-us-equal-employment. 17 See Rachel See, Christopher DeGroff, and Andrew Scroggins, EEOC and DOL Join Forces – What the Alliance Means for Employers, Workplace Class Action Blog (Sept. 18, 2023), https://www.workplaceclassaction.com/2023/09/eeoc-and-dol-join-forces-what-the-alliance-means-for-employers/.
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