5 | EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2026 EDITION ©2026 Seyfarth Shaw LLP PART II: EEOC’s Enforcement Priorities The following section outlines the foundational EEOC documents that answer two fundamental agency questions: what are the EEOC’s strategic priorities, and how will the EEOC effectuate those priorities? The EEOC is clear that, at least for now, it operates under a plan that addresses six key areas. The EEOC lacked the quorum needed to change these documents in FY 2025. However, as discussed further, how these priorities are interpreted, and the vigor of enforcement efforts has changed significantly. 1 Eliminating Barriers In Recruitment and Hiring 4Advancing Equal Pay for All Workers 2Protecting Vulnerable Workers and Persons from Underserved Communities 5Preserving Access to the Legal System 3Addressing Selected Emerging and Developing Issues 6Preventing and Remedying Systemic Harassment A. EEOC’s FY 2026 Cornerstone Documents 1. Background The EEOC identifies its enforcement priorities in its Strategic Enforcement Plan (“SEP”). Along with the SEP, the EEOC also outlines its enforcement strategies through its Strategic Plan.6 Despite the similarity in their titles, these plan documents serve two distinct purposes. The SEP lays out the Commission’s specific priorities by highlighting certain areas of law or groups of workers that it will aim to address over the next four years. The Strategic Plan describes how the EEOC will achieve its strategic mission, including executing on the priorities contained in the SEP. In the words of the EEOC, the Strategic Plan “establishes a framework for achieving the EEOC’s mission to ‘prevent and remedy unlawful employment discrimination and advance equal employment opportunity for all.’” The EEOC unveiled its first SEP more than a decade ago in December 2012, stating that the plan “established substantive area priorities and set forth strategies to integrate all components of EEOC’s private, public, and federal sector enforcement to have a sustainable impact in advancing equal opportunity and freedom from discrimination in the workplace.” According to the EEOC “the purpose of the [SEP] is to focus and coordinate the EEOC’s programs to have a sustainable impact in reducing and deterring discriminatory practices in the workplace.” The Commission’s six major enforcement priorities have remained relatively consistent across multiple iterations of the SEP. But the EEOC can and has changed how it interprets those priorities over the life of those documents. Moreover, the SEP does not fully constrain the agency in terms of what it actually enforces. The EEOC is not legally bound to strictly enforce the priorities set forth in its SEP, and the EEOC can still pursue cases that it deems important outside of these priorities. These realities have often led to shifts in how the EEOC approaches litigation and the topics and issues it chooses to enforce in the federal courts. 6 See Christopher DeGroff, James Nasiri, and Rachel See, EEOC Adopts 2022-2026 Strategic Plan With an Emphasis on Large-Scale Litigation, Improving Internal EEOC Processes, Workplace Class Action Blog (Aug. 23, 2023), https://www.workplaceclassaction.com/2023/08/eeoc-adopts2022-2026-strategic-plan-with-an-emphasis-on-large-scale-litigation-improving-internal-eeoc-processes/.
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