EEOC Settlement News: Record Year, DEI Cases, and Agency Changes

Recent EEOC settlement news centers on a record-breaking year of financial recoveries paired with a sharp shift in what the agency chooses to pursue. In fiscal year 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recovered roughly $660 million for workers alleging employment discrimination, including a historic $528 million through pre-litigation tools alone.¹ Under Chair Andrea Lucas, the agency has redirected its enforcement toward religious accommodation claims, antisemitism in the workplace, and challenges to corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, while continuing to resolve traditional harassment and disability cases.

The Numbers Behind the Record Year

The $528 million in pre-litigation recoveries was the highest such figure in the EEOC’s 60-year history and a 12% jump from the prior year.¹ Mediation produced $245.3 million of that total, conciliation $52.5 million (up 24% year over year), and systemic investigations $55 million, a 115% increase in monetary benefits over FY 2024. Litigation resolutions added $27 million for 2,505 individuals, and federal-sector cases produced another $104.6 million.²

Volume matters here too. Americans with Disabilities Act cases now account for 40% of all EEOC filings, up from 31% in the first half of the prior fiscal year.³

DEI-Related Settlements and Lawsuits

The most visible enforcement shift has been the agency’s treatment of corporate DEI programs. Chair Lucas has taken the position that initiatives considering race or sex in employment decisions may violate Title VII regardless of how they are labeled.⁴ Several recent matters show what that looks like in practice.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois

In March 2026, Planned Parenthood of Illinois agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve an EEOC investigation. The agency found the organization had maintained mandatory, race-segregated “affinity caucuses,” subjected white employees to what it characterized as harassing statements during weekly DEI training, and granted time off to Black employees that was denied to white ones.⁵ The organization’s current CEO said the practices occurred under prior leadership and had been changed.⁶

BigLaw Firm Settlements

In April 2025, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and A&O Shearman Sterling settled with the EEOC after an investigation into whether their diversity programs produced race- or sex-based disparate treatment. The firms agreed to stop labeling any lawful programs as “DEI,” affirm merit-based practices, and submit to future compliance monitoring, all without admitting liability.⁷ President Trump announced the firms also agreed to provide at least $500 million in pro bono legal services for causes supporting military members, veterans, and efforts to address antisemitism.⁸

Kickback Jack’s

The EEOC secured a $1.1 million settlement against Kickback Jack’s in February 2026 over allegations the restaurant chain refused to hire male applicants.⁴

Pending Lawsuits

Several DEI-related cases remain active. In May 2026, the EEOC sued The New York Times in the Southern District of New York, alleging the paper passed over a qualified white male employee for a deputy real estate editor position in favor of a less-experienced multiracial woman because of diversity goals. The complaint cited internal Slack messages about “targeted efforts” to diversify staff.⁹

In February 2026, the agency sued Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast in the District of New Hampshire, alleging the company excused female employees from work with pay to attend a women-only networking event at Mohegan Sun Casino in September 2024 while excluding male employees.¹⁰

Also in February 2026, the EEOC filed a subpoena enforcement action against Nike in the Eastern District of Missouri, seeking records tied to an investigation of alleged race-based workforce quotas and race-conscious layoffs, promotions, and mentoring. Nike called the action a “surprising and unusual escalation.”¹¹¹²

Religious Accommodation and COVID-19 Vaccine Cases

Religious discrimination has become the agency’s most financially productive enforcement area. Since January 2025, the EEOC has filed 16 religious discrimination lawsuits and recovered over $63 million, with FY 2025 alone producing more than $48 million, a 146% increase over the prior year.⁴

The largest single recovery was a $15 million conciliation agreement announced in March 2026 with an unnamed global technology company. The EEOC found reasonable cause to believe the company denied religious and disability exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate and terminated workers who refused the vaccine.¹³ Other vaccine-related settlements included over $2.8 million from UT-Battelle in September 2025 and more than $1 million from MercyHealth in August 2025.²

Smaller 2026 settlements include $150,000 from Rex Healthcare, $100,000 from YHMA, and $55,000 from Menzies Aviation, that last one involving Sabbath observance accommodations. The agency has also filed fresh religious accommodation lawsuits against Silver Cross Hospital, Dollar General, The Cogar Group, and Blue Eagle Contracting.⁴

Columbia University Antisemitism Settlement

The single largest EEOC public settlement in nearly two decades was the $21 million agreement with Columbia University announced in July 2025. The EEOC alleged Columbia allowed a hostile work environment in which employees experienced antisemitic harassment and retaliation after October 7, 2023. It was also the largest recovery in the agency’s history for claims involving Jewish workers or any faith-based discrimination.¹⁴

If you were a current or former Columbia employee, including a student worker, who experienced harassment based on Jewish faith, Jewish ancestry, or Israeli national origin between October 7, 2023, and July 23, 2025, you may be eligible to file a claim. The claims process opened in December 2025 and is expected to close in June 2026.¹⁵ In a related development, the EEOC won a subpoena enforcement action against the University of Pennsylvania in March 2026 tied to a separate antisemitism investigation.⁴

Recent Harassment, Disability, and Sex-Discrimination Settlements

Traditional-category cases continue to move alongside the higher-profile matters.

Central Transport

In March 2026, nationwide trucking company Central Transport agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle allegations it had systematically refused to hire qualified female truck drivers for at least a decade. The EEOC’s complaint described applications being discarded and terminals hiring no women despite numerous female applicants. Under the consent decree filed in the District of Arizona, the company must retain an outside consultant to overhaul hiring, train employees with hiring authority, and submit to monitoring for two and a half years.¹⁶

Nevada Restaurant Services

Nevada Restaurant Services, which operates Dotty’s gambling parlors and the Laughlin River Lodge Hotel & Casino, agreed to a $1.2 million consent decree in October 2025. The EEOC alleged that since at least 2018, male and female employees had been subjected to unwanted touching, groping, stalking, and sexually offensive comments by coworkers and supervisors, and that management had failed to address complaints.¹⁷ Current and former employees who experienced harassment between 2019 and the present may be eligible to file claims.¹⁸

Walmart

Walmart agreed in March 2025 to pay $415,112 to two female workers at a Supercenter in Lewisburg, West Virginia. The EEOC alleged a store manager subjected employees to unwelcome sexual touching, requests for sexual acts in exchange for favorable treatment, and other offensive conduct, and that the company retaliated against a worker who reported it. Walmart agreed never to rehire the manager at any location and to implement specialized training on harassment investigations.¹⁹

FedEx Express

FedEx Express agreed to pay $280,000 to three disabled dispatchers who had worked remotely from New York City since April 2020 and then had their telework revoked in February 2023. The EEOC alleged FedEx demanded an immediate return to its downtown Manhattan office without engaging in the interactive process required by the ADA, forcing at least one 30-year employee into retirement. The consent decree requires annual ADA training, policy revisions, reinstatement of a former employee, and reporting of future accommodation requests to the EEOC.²⁰²¹

HCL America

In April 2026, the EEOC secured approximately $500,000 from technology services firm HCL America over allegations of age and national origin discrimination, with internal communications allegedly characterizing employees as “too old” and “not diverse.”⁴

What Has Changed at the Agency Itself

The settlement pattern reflects deeper changes at the Commission. On January 22, 2026, the Commission voted 2–1 to rescind the 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, which had recognized discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as sex-based harassment under Title VII. Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal dissented. Chair Lucas has taken the position that the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County applies only to hiring and firing, not to broader workplace conditions.²² That position is being challenged in FreeState Justice v. EEOC, filed in the District of Maryland in July 2025, which alleges the agency’s refusal to process gender-identity discrimination charges violates Title VII, the Fifth Amendment, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The case remains pending.²³

Two other January 2026 votes gave the Chair authority over meeting requests and the Commission’s agenda, and required Commission approval for nearly all litigation involving systemic cases or 15 or more employees.⁴ The Commission regained its three-member quorum in late 2025 when Brittany Panuccio was confirmed by the Senate 51–47; Andrea Lucas was formally designated Chair on November 6, 2025, with a term running through July 2030.²⁴

Resources are tightening even as recoveries climb. The FY 2026 budget request of $435 million is $20 million below FY 2025, and the agency’s Inspector General projected staffing would fall below 1,700 employees in FY 2026, down from roughly 2,170 at the start of FY 2025.²⁵ The IG report said the agency would need to “pause, postpone, or abandon” non-statutory initiatives and rely more heavily on technology and artificial intelligence to manage incoming charges.²⁶

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EEOC. EEOC Highlights Record-Breaking Results Agency Reports
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EEOC. FY 2027 Agency Performance Plan and FY 2025 Agency Performance Report
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HR Dive. EEOC’s Record Year What It Means for Employers
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EEOC. EEOC Delivers Administration Priorities and President Trump’s Executive Orders
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EEOC. Planned Parenthood Illinois Pay $500,000 End EEOC DEI-Related Race Discrimination
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NPR. EEOC Planned Parenthood DEI Settlement
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EEOC. EEOC Settlement Four BigLaw Firms Disavow DEI and Affirm Their Commitment Merit-Based
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HR Dive. Four Big Law Firms Curb DEI EEOC Settlements
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EEOC. EEOC Sues New York Times DEI-Related Race and Sex Discrimination
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EEOC. EEOC Sues Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast Sex Discrimination
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EEOC. EEOC Files Subpoena Enforcement Action Against Nike
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ABC News. EEOC Alleges Anti-White Discrimination Nike Seeks Court
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Bloomberg Law. EEOC Inks $15 Million COVID Vaccine Bias Settlement With Company
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EEOC. Largest EEOC Public Settlement Almost 20 Years Columbia University Agrees Pay $21 Million
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EEOC. Columbia University Begins Payout $21 Million EEOC Settlement What You Should Know
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EEOC. EEOC Reaches Early $5.5 Million Resolution Central Transport Over Nationwide Sex
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EEOC. Nevada Restaurant Services Settles $1.2 Million EEOC Sexual Harassment Suit
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8 News Now. Nevada Casino Operator to Pay $1.2M to Settle Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
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EEOC. Walmart Pay $415,112 EEOC Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Suit
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EEOC. FedEx Pay $280,000 EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit
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HR Dive. FedEx Telework Accommodations Workers With Disabilities EEOC
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NPR. EEOC Trump Gender Identity Harassment
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Democracy Forward. EEOC Lawsuit
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SHRM. EEOC Restores Quorum and a Chair Designated
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EEOC. Fiscal Year 2026 Congressional Budget Justification
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EEOC Office of Inspector General. Management Challenges FY 2026