Employers paid U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission $528 million through pre-litigation mediation, conciliation and settlements in 2025 — the highest number yet for pre-litigation recovery in the agency’s history. The Monday announcement followed the dual release of the agency’s FY 2025 report and FY 2027 performance plan on April 3.
The agency broke down the pre-litigation settlements further, noting $52.5 million collected for workers through conciliation in 2025 — a 24% uptick year over year. Likewise, EEOC obtained $55 million for workers through investigations in 2025 — a 115% increase in monetary benefits year over year.
Overall, employers paid $660 million to 17,680 people who faced alleged employment discrimination, the agency said.
“Pre-litigation sounds better than it is,” Deb Muller, founder and CEO of employee relations case management software company, HR Acuity, told HR Dive in a statement. “When I see $528 million recovered before a single lawsuit was filed, I don’t read that as employers cooperating more. I read it as employers who couldn’t build a defense.”
One aspect of the story that gets glossed over, Muller said, is that, “Sometimes settling makes good business sense even when you have a strong case.”
“Those were organizations that simply couldn’t show their work. These situations rarely come from nowhere. There were patterns, early complaints, warning signs that never got connected,” Muller added,...
Footage of a group of women beating a man with slippers has circulated online in Hindu-majority India alongside false claims it showed a Muslim man trying to seduce women into converting to Islam a...