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Human Resource Executive Online:

When the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finished up its 2012 fiscal year in September, an interesting statistic was part of its wrap-up. For 2012, the EEOC filed half as many lawsuits as it had in 2011. That may sound like good news for employers, but it actually reflects a change of direction for the EEOC.

EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldbaum, in fact, recently tweeted that employers can expect "quality over quantity" in EEOC lawsuits in the months and perhaps even years ahead....

....

Matt Scott, head of the employment law section of the Kendall Law Group in Dallas, focuses exclusively on representing individuals in employment discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and overtime/equal pay lawsuits. Scott, himself a former defense attorney, says the EEOC was already moving in its current direction of fewer cases since 2009, when it began filing larger cases and trying to maximize its exposure as well as recoveries.

Kendall Law Group Employment Law Attorney Matthew "Matt" Scott in Human Resource Executive Online article

"It is a trend that began with the new administration," Scott says. "EEOC lawsuits are so far and few between that if you are an employer and have an EEOC case, you already have a big problem."

Scott adds that the EEOC's decision to use its resources to choose better cases has little overall impact on plaintiffs.

"It's a continuation of an ongoing trend," he says. "The recent EEOC has become much more aggressive with the lawsuits they file and at making everyone more aware of any successes than in the past. My view is that this doesn't really change anything."

http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=533352472

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