Nevada employers: Get ready for EEOC’s finalized 2023-2027 SEP

On January 10, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) publicized a draft of its five-year plan, known as the Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP). While the SEP is subject to change (since the public comment period hasn’t yet closed), it nevertheless reveals top EEOC priorities that will almost certainly influence how the agency processes, interprets, and resolves discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims going forward.

What the SEP means for Nevada employers

In Nevada, many discrimination, harassment, and retaliation charges are processed not by the EEOC, but by the Nevada Equal Rights Commission (NERC). NERC frequently looks to the EEOC (and federal law, generally) for guidance, and indeed, it views itself as being tasked with the mission of “spread[ing] the ‘gospel’ of equal rights statewide” by providing free assistance to Nevada employees, particular those in underserved classifications, to help resolve claims through settlements (or if a settlement isn’t possible, through litigation).

With NERC’s enforcement powers having been expanded in recent years, and with the state agency currently trying to increase its staffing (to eliminate vacancies that have accrued since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic), both federal and state enforcement of antidiscrimination laws will likely be on the rise over the next five years.

If the draft SEP is a preview, then the EEOC and NERC are each expected to place a high priority on investigating and remedying the following categories of claims: