Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Commission adopts updated strategic plan for fiscal years 2026-2030, (Aug 28, 2026)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

The strategic plan sets enforcement, outreach, and operational priorities through end of decade.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has adopted a new strategic plan covering fiscal years 2026 through 2030, establishing the framework that will guide the agency’s enforcement, outreach, and operational activities over the next four years.

The plan outlines three strategic goals focused on applying the agency’s enforcement authorities, expanding outreach and training efforts, and improving organizational performance through workforce, technology, and operational initiatives.

According to the EEOC, the updated plan is effective immediately and is intended to align agency resources with its mission of preventing and remedying unlawful employment discrimination and advancing equal employment opportunity for all.

Overview. The EEOC described the plan as a framework for its operations that is designed to support the prevention and remediation of unlawful employment discrimination, promote equal employment opportunity, ensure evenhanded enforcement of federal employment laws, and improve service delivery.

EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas stated that the updated plan reflects the agency’s commitment to "evenhanded enforcement" of federal equal employment opportunity laws and to serving the public with "excellence, integrity, and accountability."

Three strategic goals. The plan is organized around three strategic goals. Strategic Goal I is to combat and prevent employment discrimination through the strategic application of the agency’s law enforcement authorities. Strategic Goal II is to prevent employment discrimination and advance equal employment opportunities through outreach and training. Strategic Goal III is to strive for organizational excellence through the agency’s people, practices, and technology. The EEOC states that the three goals are intended to advance its mission "to prevent and remedy unlawful employment discrimination and advance equal employment opportunity for all."

Enforcement priorities and performance measures. Under Strategic Goal I, the agency states that it will seek a broad impact on preventing and remedying discrimination while providing meaningful relief to victims and will exercise its enforcement authority "even-handedly, efficiently, and based on the circumstances of each charge or complaint."

Among the performance measures associated with the goal, the EEOC set targets to maintain targeted equitable relief in 97 percent of conciliation agreements and favorable litigation resolutions through fiscal year 2030 and to continue favorably resolving at least 90 percent of enforcement lawsuits annually through fiscal year 2030. The plan also provides that the agency’s systemic program will focus on resolving complex systemic matters involving 10 or more aggrieved individuals while seeking meaningful equitable and monetary relief.

The plan calls for enhanced monitoring of conciliation agreements, the establishment of baseline measures for cabinet-level federal agencies’ compliance with equal employment opportunity requirements beginning in fiscal year 2026, and continued quality benchmarks for investigations, conciliations, hearings, and federal appeals.

Intake and technology initiatives. The EEOC also included objectives aimed at improving access to agency services. Under Performance Measure 7, the agency plans to expand accessibility to intake services through technological solutions, reduce pending intake inventory by two percent annually from fiscal year 2025 levels, and by fiscal year 2030 reduce the time required to process intake inquiries by 10 percent compared with the prior year’s average.

The plan states that additional improvements to the agency’s digital charge-filing and intake systems are expected to be implemented during the plan period.

Outreach and training objectives. Strategic Goal II focuses on outreach and education. The EEOC states that one objective is to ensure members of the public are aware of employment discrimination laws, understand their rights and responsibilities, and know how to file a discrimination charge. A second objective is to provide employers, federal agencies, unions, staffing agencies, and other covered entities with information necessary to prevent and remedy discriminatory practices.

The plan calls for innovative outreach strategies, expanded partnerships, updated training materials, and new plain-language resources. It also establishes a stakeholder engagement measurement framework for the agency’s federal-sector Education Consortium program.

According to the plan, the EEOC provided free training to more than 231,000 individuals at more than 2,000 events during fiscal year 2025 and provided fee-based training to nearly 19,700 individuals through more than 260 events. The agency also reported delivering more than 450 federal-sector outreach, education, and training events during that fiscal year.

Organizational excellence. Strategic Goal III addresses workforce, operational, and technology issues. The plan calls for maintaining staffing levels at or above 95 percent of a full-time-equivalent baseline, conducting annual in-person training for mission-critical program areas, and developing a leadership development and succession plan using Office of Personnel Management programs.

The agency also established goals related to stakeholder satisfaction, technology-driven operational improvements, and budget execution. Under one measure, the EEOC plans to implement at least two technology-driven operational improvements annually between fiscal years 2026 and 2030.

Development process. The EEOC said development of the strategic plan was a collaborative effort involving agency leadership and headquarters office directors. The agency also solicited public comments on the draft plan and stated that it reviewed and considered those comments before finalizing the document. The Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act requires executive departments, government corporations, and independent agencies to develop and publish strategic plans every four fiscal years.

News: AgencyNews Discrimination