EEOC secured more than $525 million in fiscal 2015 bias awards

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission secured more than $525 million for victims of discrimination in private, state and local government and federal workplaces in fiscal year 2015, which ended Sept. 30, the agency said in a report issued Thursday.

The figure included $356.6 million for discrimination victims in the private sector and state and local government workplaces through mediation, conciliation and settlements. This is a 20.4% increase from the $296.1 million reported in the agency’s fiscal year 2014 report.

In addition, in fiscal year 2015 the agency recovered $65.3 million for charging parties through litigation and $105.7 million for federal employees and applicants, according to the “Fiscal Year 2015, Performance and Accountability Report.”

During the fiscal year, the EEOC resolved before filing litigation 268 cases of systemic discrimination, which address patterns or practices of discrimination or policies that have a broad impact, obtaining more than $33.5 million in remedies, the agency said.

The EEOC also resolved 26 systemic cases in litigation, six of which included at least 50 victims of discrimination and 13 that included at least 20 victims, the EEOC said.