One of the very best ways for employers to avoid getting in legal hot water is to keep close tabs on what exactly the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is doing. Here’s the very latest:

EEOC Newsroom

Want to know whom the EEOC is really suing for what? Click here to access the EEOC’s official Newsroom, where you can get up-to-the-minute updates on all the latest lawsuits and settlements.

EEOC Priorities

According to several reports, the EEOC plans to file fewer “systemic cases” in the future due to limited resources. Systemic cases are defined as “pattern or practice, policy and/or class cases where the alleged discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, profession, company, or geographic location.” Those cases have a been a top EEOC priority since the launch of its Systemic Initiative in 2006. In fact, the EEOC file a record 23 systemic suits in 2011 alone.

So what will the EEOC be targeting instead? Two main categories:

1. Hiring discrimination; and,
2. Vulnerable workers (e.g., human trafficking).

For more, check out the EEOC’s official Strategic Plan.

EEOC Charge Data

The EEOC recently released a new online tool that shows charge stats for each state over the past three years. It includes data on each type of discrimination as well as comparative data relative to the rest of the U.S.

EEOC Process

Confused about the EEOC’s process? Here’s an overview that might help to explain just how everything works.

EEO Laws

Confused about the alphabet soup of employment laws? Don’t be. Here’s our latest Employment Law Tool Box which includes a handy glossary that decodes each acronym and here is our latest Tool Box with handy cheat sheets on each law.

This was originally published on Manpower Group’s Employment Blawg.