Few lawsuits in first half of 2025; Flurry of new cases for end of FY2025

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed only 16 lawsuits so far in 2025, far below the 36 filed at this time last year. Of the 16 lawsuits, six are sexual harassment, three are religious discrimination, three are disability discrimination, two pregnancy discrimination, and one each are age discrimination and national origin discrimination.

At the end of June, however, the EEOC filed a flurry of new cases that primarily focus on sexual harassment, disability discrimination, and failure to accommodate. Once Acting Chair Andrea Lucas gets a quorum with the expected addition of Brittany Bull Panuccio, she is expected to take aim at religious and anti-American discrimination and cut back protections for trans and nonbinary workers.

When the Supreme Court announced its recent decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, Lucas made it clear she will also be targeting employer diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. In her statement applauding the decision, she said the EEOC under her leadership “is committed to dismantling identity politics that have plagued our employment civil rights laws, by dispelling the notion that only the ‘right sort of’ [employee] is protected by Title VII.” The commission is also expected to revise its Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations and make revisions to its harassment guidance.

EEOC will begin processing some transgender cases