October 21, 2025
The EEOC reportedly plans to notify claimants who filed complaints on “disparate impact liability” by the end of October that they must file a lawsuit on their own if they want to continue to pursue their claims.
Lawyers with Cohen Milstein are sounding the alarm that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency Congress tasked with enforcing federal employment discrimination laws, has plans to drop specific discrimination claims.
In a memo first obtained by The Associated Press, the EEOC says the agency will discharge any complaints on “disparate impact liability,” a legal concept that argues a policy or hiring practice could still be discriminatory even if it looks fair on the surface, if it creates an unnecessary barrier that makes it harder for certain groups of people to succeed. The EEOC plans to notify claimants by the end of October that they must file a lawsuit on their own if they want to continue to pursue their claims.
According to Joseph M. Sellers and Christine E. Webber, attorneys and partners with Cohen Milstein, the “disparate impact liability” rule has eliminated arbitrary hurdles for job applicants, creating a more level playing field for everyone.
What Claimants Need To Know
The EEOC has forbidden employment practices having a disparate impact since at least 1971. Sellers and Webber said that as the EEOC plans to drop claims under disparate impact liability, it leaves those who filed charges to think “that it [the EEOC] found their claims had no merit.”
According to the two attorneys, this means that workers need to take action, as lawyers in the private sector can still enforce these civil rights laws.
“Workers who receive notices of a right to sue should know that the EEOC’s refusal to investigate their claims does not necessarily mean that their claims lack merit or that there is no way forward,” said Sellers and Webber. “To the contrary: the courts are still enforcing the law, including the disparate impact rule.”
Unfortunately, this means that claimants have only 90 days to file their own lawsuits, or their claims will be barred for good. Both Sellers and Webber encourage people to consult an attorney as soon as possible, especially lawyers with experience in disparate impact claims.
“The EEOC may be abandoning decades of precedent, but the doors to courthouses remain open to workers with disparate impact claims,” the lawyers add.
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