The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released its Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) for Fiscal year 2013. The report summarizes the agency’s activity and assessment of its financial performance from October 2012 through September 2013. It reveals some interesting details about the agency’s work this past year.

Highlights from the EEOC’s report include the following:

1. The agency received a total of 93,272 private sector charges of discrimination, a 6,000 charge decrease from the prior three fiscal years.

2. 97,252 charges were resolved, nearly 14,000 fewer than in FY 2012.

3. Pending inventory of discrimination charges at the end of the fiscal year was 70,781.

4. Average time to investigate and bring charges to resolution was reduced by 21 days to 267 days.

5. The agency obtained $372.1 million in monetary relief for charging parties bringing private sector discrimination claims. This is the highest level in EEOC history and $6.7 million more than the total monetary relief obtained in the prior fiscal year.

6. Both monetary and non-monetary benefits were secured for more than 70,522 individuals via mediation, settlements, and conciliations.

7. 209 merits lawsuits were resolved with $39 million recovered. Of these resolutions, 135 contained Title VII claims, 59 contained Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims, 16 contained Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) claims, 4 contained Equal Pay Act (EPA) claims, and 1 contained Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) claims.

8. 13 cases made it to trial, including 11 jury trials and 2 bench trials. The EEOC prevailed in 9 of the 11 jury trials, resolved 1 by consent decree, and lost 1. It lost 1 bench trial and the other remains pending.

9. The EEOC filed 131 merits lawsuits, including 89 individual suits, 21 non-systemic class suits, and 21 systemic suits. Of these filings, 78 contained Title VII claims, 51 contained ADA claims, 7 contained ADEA claims, 5 contained EPA claims, and 3 contained GINA claims.

10. The agency completed 300 systemic investigations resulting in 63 settlements or conciliation agreements that paid $40 million.

11. 11,513 mediations were conducted in private-sector matters and 8,890 reached resolution.

12. $160.9 million in monetary benefits were paid to complainants through mediation resolutions – the second highest level in agency history.

The EEOC noted that the government shutdown during FY 2013 caused the agency to furlough its entire workforce for 40 hours and reduce its budget for various things including litigation. It attributed some reduced statistics as compared to prior years to the shutdown.

More detailed litigation statistics for FY 2013 will be released by the EEOC in early 2014.