In 2022 the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been pushing appeals courts to take on broader interpretations of protections for workers facing alleged workplace discrimination.
The agency filed around two dozen amicus briefs during the year, most of which chimed in on cases related to retaliation and gender discrimination. Retaliation is the most common type of charge the EEOC receives, with 56% of the charges filed in fiscal year 2021 containing some allegation of illegal backlash.
Generally, the EEOC appeared eager to weigh in on cases where lower courts interpreted worker protections too narrowly or where circuit courts have precedents that don’t align with the agency’s interpretation of civil rights law.
Amicus briefs are presented to the commission by the EEOC general counsel’s office and require a majority vote approval. For most of 2022 the commission has had a Democratic chair, Charlotte Burrows, and a Republican voting majority, bringing a bipartisan flavor to its amicus filing decisions.
Here are five briefs from the EEOC that stood out this year:
The EEOC weighed in on nine cases seeking to expand a plaintiff’s right to bring a retaliation claim this year, making it the second most popular amicus brief “basis” for the agency in 2022 by its own count.
In one such case, Frank v. Heartland Rehabilitation Hospital, LLC, the US...
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