Understanding the EEOC: Its Function and Key Employment Laws From Title VII to the ADA, FMLA and GINA

The Function of the EEOC

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the independent federal agency that enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 and older), disability and genetic information, as well as retaliation against people who complain about discrimination or participate in investigations. Created by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it opened in 1965 and is led by a five-member commission and a general counsel appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

The EEOC’s main functions are to:

• Receive and investigate charges filed by employees and applicants. Most private employers with 15 or more employees are covered (20 or more for age discrimination). Charges generally must be filed within 180 days of the discriminatory act, or 300 days where a state or local agency enforces a similar law.
• Resolve disputes through mediation and conciliation and issue “right-to-sue” letters that allow individuals to file lawsuits.
• Litigate selected cases, including systemic cases affecting many workers.
• Issue regulations and guidance, provide training and outreach and collect workforce data (such as EEO-1 reports).
• Oversee federal-sector EEO complaints for federal employees.

Retaliation is consistently the most frequently alleged basis in EEOC charges, appearing in about 48% of charges in fiscal year 2024 (Seyfarth Shaw, 2026). The agency lacked a quorum for most of 2025, which limited formal votes, until the Senate confirmed a third commissioner on October 7, 2025; Andrea Lucas was named chair in November 2025. Its current priorities include challenging “unlawful” DEI-related discrimination, national origin discrimination against American workers and religious discrimination, while it has deemphasized disparate impact cases and withdrawn materials on gender identity (Holland & Knight, 2025).

1. Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and Executive Order 8802 (1941)

President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, declared enslaved people in Confederate-held states free. It was not an employment law, but it marked the beginning of the transition from slave labor to free labor and laid the groundwork for the Thirteenth Amendment (1865), which abolished slavery, and later civil rights protections. Executive Order 8802, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in June 1941 after A. Philip Randolph threatened a march on Washington, prohibited racial discrimination in the national defense industry and government and created the Fair Employment Practice Committee. It was the first federal action against employment discrimination and a forerunner of the EEOC.

2. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1991

Title VII prohibits employers with 15 or more employees, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin in hiring, firing, pay, promotion and other terms of employment, and it created the EEOC. It covers both disparate treatment (intentional discrimination) and disparate impact (neutral policies that disproportionately exclude a protected group without business necessity), recognized in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971). Employers must reasonably accommodate religious practices unless doing so causes undue hardship, which the Supreme Court clarified in Groff v. DeJoy (2023) means substantial increased costs. In Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), the Court held that firing someone for being gay or transgender is sex discrimination under Title VII, and in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services (2025), it held that majority-group plaintiffs face the same standard of proof as other plaintiffs.

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 strengthened Title VII after several Supreme Court decisions had made discrimination harder to prove. It restored the burden of proof for disparate impact cases, allowed jury trials and compensatory and punitive damages for intentional discrimination (capped at $50,000 to $300,000 depending on employer size), addressed “mixed-motive” cases and extended protections to U.S. citizens working for American companies abroad.

3. Executive Orders for Affirmative Action: EO 11246 (1965) and EO 11375 (1967)

Executive Order 11246, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, prohibited federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion and national origin and required them to take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity. Executive Order 11375, issued in October 1967 (often cited with the earlier order), added sex as a protected category. Contractors with significant contracts had to prepare written affirmative action plans with workforce analyses and placement goals, enforced by the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), not the EEOC.

Major change: On January 21, 2025, President Trump’s Executive Order 14173 revoked EO 11246 and directed OFCCP to stop requiring affirmative action by contractors. A final rule published August 21, 2026, rescinds the EO 11246 regulations, including written affirmative action programs and placement goals, effective October 26, 2026 (Benesch, 2026). Affirmative action obligations for individuals with disabilities (Section 503) and protected veterans (VEVRAA), which are based on statutes, remain in effect, with revised regulations. Title VII’s nondiscrimination requirements continue to apply to all covered employers.

4. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1990

The ADEA protects applicants and employees aged 40 and older from discrimination in hiring, promotion, pay, layoffs and other employment decisions by employers with 20 or more employees. There is no upper age limit, and mandatory retirement is generally prohibited, with narrow exceptions. The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) amended the ADEA to prohibit age discrimination in employee benefits and to set rules for waivers of age discrimination claims in severance agreements. A valid waiver must be written in plain language, specifically reference the ADEA, advise the employee to consult an attorney, give at least 21 days to consider it (45 days in group layoffs) and allow 7 days to revoke after signing.

5. Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974

The Rehabilitation Act was the first major federal law protecting people with disabilities. Section 501 prohibits disability discrimination by federal agencies, Section 503 requires federal contractors to take affirmative action to hire people with disabilities and Section 504 bars discrimination in programs receiving federal funds. Its standards later became the model for the ADA. The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against protected veterans and requires affirmative action to employ and advance them, including listing job openings with state employment services. Both remain enforced by OFCCP.

6. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amended Title VII to make clear that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions is sex discrimination. It responded to General Electric Co. v. Gilbert (1976), in which the Supreme Court allowed pregnancy to be excluded from disability benefits. Employers must treat pregnant workers the same as others who are similar in their ability or inability to work. Young v. United Parcel Service (2015) clarified how this applies to light-duty policies. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, effective June 27, 2023, goes further by requiring employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy and childbirth, and the PUMP Act (2022) protects workers’ right to break time and space to express breast milk.

7. Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination under Title VII. It includes quid pro quo harassment, in which job benefits are conditioned on sexual favors, and hostile work environment harassment, in which unwelcome sexual conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create an abusive workplace. The Supreme Court recognized hostile environment claims in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986), held that same-sex harassment is covered in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services (1998) and set employer liability rules in Faragher v. City of Boca Raton and Burlington Industries v. Ellerth (1998). Employers can reduce liability by having effective anti-harassment policies, complaint procedures and training, and by taking prompt corrective action. The 2022 Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act allows workers to take such claims to court rather than mandatory arbitration.

8. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and ADA Amendments Act of 2008

Title I of the ADA prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities and requires reasonable accommodations, such as modified schedules, assistive technology or job restructuring, unless they would cause undue hardship. A disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment or being regarded as having one. Supreme Court decisions in the 1990s and early 2000s, such as Sutton v. United Air Lines (1999) and Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams (2002), narrowed this definition. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 reversed those decisions, directing that disability be interpreted broadly, that mitigating measures such as medication generally not be considered and that episodic conditions be covered when active, which shifted the focus to whether discrimination occurred.

9. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the 2010 Clarification and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008

The FMLA, enforced by the Department of Labor, gives eligible employees of covered employers (generally 50 or more employees) up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for the birth or adoption of a child, a serious health condition of the employee or a family member, or certain military family needs, with continued group health coverage. Employees qualify after 12 months of employment and 1,250 hours worked in the past year. Military amendments in 2008 and 2010 added qualifying exigency leave and up to 26 weeks of military caregiver leave. In 2010, the Department of Labor also issued an Administrator’s Interpretation clarifying that employees who stand “in loco parentis” to a child, such as grandparents or same-sex partners raising a child, may take leave to care for that child even without a legal or biological relationship.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) Title II prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from using genetic information, including family medical history and genetic test results, in employment decisions and generally prohibits requesting or acquiring such information. Title I applies to health insurance. GINA protects workers from fear that genetic testing or family history could cost them their jobs.

10. Re-entry of Formerly Incarcerated Students

People with criminal records, including formerly incarcerated students completing education to rebuild their lives, face major barriers to employment. A criminal record is not a protected category, but the EEOC’s 2012 Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records explains that blanket exclusions can violate Title VII because they disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic applicants (disparate impact). Employers should consider the nature and gravity of the offense, the time since the offense or sentence and the nature of the job, and conduct an individualized assessment. Other supports include:

• “Ban the box” and fair chance laws in many states and cities, which delay criminal history questions until later in hiring; the federal Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act applies this to federal agencies and contractors.
• Restored Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students since July 2023, which expands college access in prison.
• The Work Opportunity Tax Credit and Federal Bonding Program, which encourage employers to hire people with records.

Because the EEOC currently emphasizes intentional discrimination over disparate impact claims, advocates expect less federal enforcement in this area, making state and local fair chance laws and employer second-chance hiring policies increasingly important.

Summary table

References

Benesch. (2026). OFCCP publishes final rule rescinding affirmative action regulations pursuant to Executive Order 11246. https://www.beneschlaw.com/insight/ofccp-publishes-final-rule-rescinding-affirmative-action-regulations-pursuant-to-executive-order-11246/

Holland & Knight. (2025, December 30). Back in business: EEOC’s restored quorum explained. https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2025/12/back-in-business-eeocs-restored-quorum-explained

Seyfarth Shaw. (2026). EEOC-initiated litigation: 2026 edition. https://www.content.seyfarth.com/publications/EEOC-Initiated-Litigation-2026/66/

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2012). Enforcement guidance on the consideration of arrest and conviction records in employment decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Laws enforced by EEOC. https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/laws-enforced-eeoc

Related reading: FLSA case study, what makes a compensation system fair and criminal justice policy and oppressed populations.