For many months now, I’ve checked the federal dockets in Connecticut for a specific piece of data. Each time I did, I frankly had a tough time believing it. But I received confirmation of that fact last Wednesday during a dinner meeting with the EEOC:
The EEOC has no litigation matters in Connecticut.
Think about that. For an agency charged with enforcing discrimination laws in all 50 states, it has at least one state where it does not have a single pending lawsuit that it has brought or is involved with.
I stumbled onto this strange anomaly while reviewing headlines from the EEOC press releases. Time and again, I’d see pronouncements of lawsuits brought by the EEOC or settlements obtained. But notably absent from any of that was any mention of lawsuits in Connecticut.
At the meeting on Wednesday, little explanation was given for the lack of litigation. Indeed, the litigation counsel for the EEOC said that they were in Connecticut to try to drum up some business. "Just don’t expect us to take that dog of a case you have", he joked.
For employers, the lack of apparent oversight of Connecticut cases can’t last forever. Those employers who have been used to the EEOC taking a back-seat when it comes to investigating and litigation discrimination cases in Connecticut, should keep an eye out to see if the EEOC makes good on its promises to be more involved in Connecticut. If it does, employers should be aware that the EEOC has the resources to investigate and prosecute instances of what it perceives to be discrimination.