A Message from EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows on Expanding Opportunity for All, January 2021-January 2025
Since its founding nearly 60 years ago, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) has helped many millions of workers obtain relief from discrimination based on race; color; religion; sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity); national origin; age; disability; genetic information; or pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions. When I became EEOC Chair on January 20, 2021, the nation was facing a pandemic that had upended many workplaces, and the EEOC’s workforce was at its lowest level in 40 years. Together with the agency’s talented and dedicated career staff, we rebuilt the EEOC’s capacity, re-opened our offices to the public, provided real-time information for employees and employers in addressing the civil rights effects of COVID-19, and significantly increased the agency’s cases on behalf of American workers. While America unquestionably still has unfinished business in the area of civil rights, the Commission has done an incredibly effective job of protecting employees, supporting employers’ compliance efforts, and expanding public awareness and understanding of federal employment laws. Each year of the Biden administration, the agency has increased the amount it recovered for workers who suffered discrimination in their employment. In Fiscal Year 2024 alone, the EEOC obtained a record of nearly $700 million in recoveries, far above the agency’s annual budget of $455 million.
During my time as Chair, I had the opportunity to launch new initiatives addressing key employment issues, including ensuring that employers’ use of artificial intelligence complies with civil rights laws and highlighting lawful ways to increase diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in hiring. We helped make real the promise of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, by bringing cases to protect the LGBTQI+ workers who had been denied basic dignity at work simply because of who they are. I also had the privilege of leading the EEOC’s implementation of the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act (PWFA) and the development of guidance to combat unlawful harassment on all bases, along with numerous other documents to help the public understand the nation’s workplace civil rights laws.
Outreach and engagement with the public have been hallmarks of the agency during the past four years. The many online and in-person events conducted by our staff in our 53 offices across the country and each of the Commissioners to creating the EEOC’s very first process for consultation with Native American tribes, which itself was adopted after robust consultation with tribal nations. We also made it possible for the first time for attorneys to file their clients’ charges of discrimination directly through the attorney e-file system, and enhanced outreach through the REACH initiative. In addition, working with singer/songwriter John Legend, the EEOC released videos to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act to reach audiences that the agency might not usually reach.
It has been a tremendous honor to serve as the EEOC’s 17th Chair and to work with my fellow Commissioners, our staffs, and the EEOC’s wonderful career professionals during this momentous time. As the EEOC enters its 60th anniversary year, it is a pleasure to share a few of the accomplishments of this amazing agency over the past four years.
Charlotte A. Burrows (she/her/hers)
Chair
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
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