Employment lawsuits statistics from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) show how federal agency litigation changed between fiscal year (FY) 2020 and FY 2025. The EEOC recorded 97 all suits filed in FY 2020, 124 in FY 2021, 93 in FY 2022, 158 in FY 2023, 142 in FY 2024, and 107 in FY 2025. These are EEOC litigation figures, not a count of every private employment lawsuit filed in U.S. courts.
Contents
- EEOC employment litigation filings by fiscal year
- Which discrimination statutes appear in filed suits
- Age, pay, and newer-law employment lawsuit counts
- How many EEOC employment lawsuits are resolved
- Statute-specific employment lawsuit resolutions
- Monetary benefits recovered through employment lawsuits
EEOC employment litigation filings by fiscal year
The EEOC’s all-suits series moved unevenly across the six fiscal years. The count rose from 97 in FY 2020 to 124 in FY 2021, then fell to 93 in FY 2022. It reached 158 in FY 2023, declined to 142 in FY 2024, and declined again to 107 in FY 2025. The FY 2023 figure was the highest all-suits count in this period, while FY 2022 was the lowest.
The EEOC also reports a narrower merits-suits series for the last three fiscal years in this dataset. It recorded 143 merits suits filed in FY 2023, 111 in FY 2024, and 94 in FY 2025. The merits-suits count therefore decreased in each year across that three-year span. The all-suits and merits-suits series should be kept distinct because they are separate categories in the EEOC litigation table.
| Federal fiscal year | All suits filed | Merits suits filed |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2020 | 97 | — |
| FY 2021 | 124 | — |
| FY 2022 | 93 | — |
| FY 2023 | 158 | 143 |
| FY 2024 | 142 | 111 |
| FY 2025 | 107 | 94 |
Source: EEOC, Table L1. Litigation Statistics FY 1997 - FY 2025.
The filing pattern is easiest to read as a sequence rather than as a steady trend. The first three all-suits observations were 97, 124, and 93, so the series moved up and then down before the 158-suit FY 2023 peak. The next two observations, 142 and 107, were both below that peak. These reported counts show year-to-year movement, but they do not explain why the number changed or identify the characteristics of individual cases.
Which discrimination statutes appear in filed suits
Title VII appears frequently in the EEOC’s filed-suit counts. The table records 59 filed suits that included Title VII claims in FY 2020, 71 in FY 2021, 62 in FY 2022, 92 in FY 2023, 66 in FY 2024, and 54 in FY 2025. The Title VII count peaked at 92 in FY 2023 and was 54 in FY 2025.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) appeared in 32 filed suits in FY 2020, 43 in FY 2021, and 27 in FY 2022. These statute-specific counts describe suits that included the listed claims; they are not necessarily mutually exclusive categories.
| Claim statute | FY 2020 | FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title VII | 59 | 71 | 62 | 92 | 66 | 54 |
| ADA | 32 | 43 | 27 | — | — | — |
Title VII is the Civil Rights Act provision represented in these EEOC litigation statistics, while the ADA figures identify cases that included disability-discrimination claims. Because a suit can include more than one statute, adding the statute rows does not produce a total number of lawsuits.
Age, pay, and newer-law employment lawsuit counts
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) appeared in 7 filed suits in FY 2020, 4 in FY 2021, and 7 in FY 2022. The count then reached 12 in FY 2023, fell to 7 in FY 2024, and rose to 9 in FY 2025. Across the reported years, the highest ADEA count was 12 in FY 2023 and the lowest was 4 in FY 2021.
The table also identifies claims under newer or less frequently represented statutes. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) appeared in 5 filed suits in FY 2024 and 7 in FY 2025. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) appeared in 1 filed suit in FY 2023.
These figures can help readers see the range of statutes in EEOC litigation, but they do not establish how often each type of claim occurs across all employment lawsuits. They cover the EEOC’s filed suits and the fiscal years identified by the agency.
The listed ADEA, PWFA, and GINA values also illustrate why statute rows need careful wording. ADEA counts are available for all six fiscal years in this article, while PWFA counts are reported for FY 2024 and FY 2025 and the GINA count is reported for FY 2023. A blank period in a comparison table means that no corresponding figure was supplied here; it does not mean that no lawsuit existed or that the statute was unavailable.
How many EEOC employment lawsuits are resolved
The EEOC recorded 176 all litigation resolutions in FY 2020. The corresponding counts were 140 in FY 2021, 100 in FY 2022, 105 in FY 2023, 159 in FY 2024, and 132 in FY 2025. The all-resolutions count was highest in FY 2020 and lowest in FY 2022 within this six-year series.
For merits-suit resolutions, the EEOC recorded 99 in FY 2023, 132 in FY 2024, and 120 in FY 2025. This series increased from FY 2023 to FY 2024 and then decreased in FY 2025. It is not interchangeable with the all-litigation-resolutions series.
| Federal fiscal year | All litigation resolutions | Merits-suit resolutions |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2020 | 176 | — |
| FY 2021 | 140 | — |
| FY 2022 | 100 | — |
| FY 2023 | 105 | 99 |
| FY 2024 | 159 | 132 |
| FY 2025 | 132 | 120 |
Resolution totals in one fiscal year should not be treated as the outcome of only that year’s filings. Litigation can be filed in one period and resolved in another, and the EEOC table does not present these figures as a same-year case-flow calculation.
Statute-specific employment lawsuit resolutions
Among resolved suits, Title VII claims appeared in 99 suits in FY 2020, 82 in FY 2021, 53 in FY 2022, 53 in FY 2023, 77 in FY 2024, and 77 in FY 2025. The Title VII resolution count was lowest in FY 2022 and FY 2023 and then reached 77 in each of the next two fiscal years.
ADA claims appeared in 58 resolved suits in FY 2020, 34 in FY 2021, and 34 in FY 2022. The repeated count of 34 in FY 2021 and FY 2022 is a reported value, not an estimate.
As with filed-suit counts, these statute-specific resolution rows can overlap. A resolved suit with both Title VII and ADA claims can be included in both statute tallies. Accordingly, the rows should be read as claim-presence measures rather than as separate, non-overlapping case groups.
The resolution figures provide context for reading the claim rows. In FY 2020, the table lists 176 all litigation resolutions, including 99 resolved suits with Title VII claims and 58 with ADA claims. In FY 2021, it lists 140 all litigation resolutions, including 82 with Title VII claims and 34 with ADA claims. In FY 2022, it lists 100 all litigation resolutions, including 53 with Title VII claims and 34 with ADA claims. Those comparisons describe overlapping reporting categories, not a complete classification of every resolved suit.
Monetary benefits recovered through employment lawsuits
The EEOC reported monetary benefits from litigation in millions of dollars. EEOC litigation produced $106.1 million in FY 2020, $34 million in FY 2021, $39.7 million in FY 2022, $22.6 million in FY 2023, $40.4 million in FY 2024, and $26.64 million in FY 2025. The reported amount was highest in FY 2020 and lowest in FY 2023 across these figures.
| Federal fiscal year | EEOC litigation monetary benefits |
|---|---|
| FY 2020 | $106.1 million |
| FY 2021 | $34 million |
| FY 2022 | $39.7 million |
| FY 2023 | $22.6 million |
| FY 2024 | $40.4 million |
| FY 2025 | $26.64 million |
For resolved suits with Title VII claims, the EEOC reported $72.6 million in monetary benefits in FY 2020, $28.2 million in FY 2021, and $34.1 million in FY 2022. These are statute-specific monetary-benefit rows with the table’s separate multiple-statute treatment, so they should not be added to the overall litigation-benefit figures or interpreted as the benefits from every Title VII lawsuit in the country.
The measurement period is the federal fiscal year, which runs from October 1 through September 30. The figures therefore describe EEOC litigation activity and reported benefits during those federal reporting periods. They do not measure all private employment lawsuits, all employment claims, or all compensation obtained through employment disputes in the United States. Readers comparing dollar amounts across years should preserve the units exactly as reported. The overall litigation-benefit series uses millions of dollars, while the Title VII resolution-benefit series is a separate subset reported for FY 2020 through FY 2022. Neither series supplies an average award, a median award, a per-case amount, or a forecast of future recoveries.
Source for the filing, resolution, claim, and monetary-benefit figures: EEOC, Table L1. Litigation Statistics FY 1997 - FY 2025.