The EEOC is not coming to save you.
You complain about discrimination at work. A few weeks later, you are fired. So you file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and wait for the government to take up your fight.
Don't count on it.
In my opinion, the EEOC is being hollowed out and destroyed from the inside. For many kinds of claims, the law still makes you file a charge with the agency before you can go to court. So we do it. But workers should not expect the EEOC to take discrimination and retaliation seriously or to be a force for good anymore. It just isn't.
In January 2025, days after taking office, President Trump fired two of the agency's commissioners and its general counsel. As I write this, two of the five seats are empty, and the EEOC's own website lists the general counsel's job as vacant. Since a 2-1 vote in January 2026, the three commissioners in Washington decide almost every lawsuit the agency files.
The EEOC's new National Enforcement Plan, adopted in June 2026, says the agency will use its discretion in deploying its enforcement authority "to advance the Administration's policy objectives and comply with relevant Executive Orders." That is the agency responsible for enforcing your civil rights at work, telling you in writing whose agenda comes first.
The EEOC started fiscal 2025, in October 2024, with 2,170 employees and fiscal 2026 with 1,809, according to its own performance report. Roughly one in six, gone in a year, while inquiries to its field offices rose 8.7 percent. Its inspector general warned that the losses, together with turnover in management, "will likely hamper the Agency from achieving the same levels of outputs."
Even before any of this, the EEOC was never going to take on most people's cases. By its own numbers, the EEOC received 88,201 new charges in fiscal 2025 and filed 94 merits lawsuits. That is about one lawsuit for every 938 charges.
The charge is still required, and the clock is short. In Texas, you generally have 300 days from the discriminatory act to file a federal charge. Under Texas law, you have only 180 days, or 300 for sexual harassment. Federal employees are the exception. If you work for the federal government, or applied for a federal job, you have a different process with a much shorter first deadline. You generally must contact an EEO counselor where you work, or where you applied, within 45 days.
So file the charge, and file it on time. But treat it as a step you have to take, not as help on the way.
The law still protects you. But the EEOC is not coming to save you.
Sources.
EEOC National Enforcement Plan: https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2026-06/NEP_-_signed.pdf
EEOC FY 2025 performance report (staffing and inquiries): https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2026-04/EEOC_APR_FY2025_APP_FY2027_508.pdf
EEOC Inspector General: https://oig.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/page_attachments/Management%20Challenges%20FY%202026%20-%20FINAL.pdf
EEOC filing deadlines: https://www.eeoc.gov/time-limits-filing-charge
Federal employees, 45 days: https://www.eeoc.gov/federal-sector/contacting-eeo-counselor