And though the EEOC depends on state human rights agencies to take some cases, a federal court has ruled that delays at the New York State Division of Human Rights are hurting complainants' chances for justice. We got 10,000. Anita Hill's claims, that Thomas sexually harassed her during their overlapping tenure at the agency, made during his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, raised national awareness of sexual harassment that increased the agency's workload. Castro credits a system implemented in 1995 by her predecessor, Gil Casellas, with chipping away at that backlog. Complainants can still file private lawsuits in federal court.
Some meritorious cases are good candidates for the agency's voluntary mediation program.
About one-third of employees and employers have agreed to go to mediation and 65 percent of those reached successful settlements in about 90 days. There is less focus on litigation and more focus on solving the problem and people getting on with their lives. Though funding still exists for staff mediators, including two in New York, sources say the agency has been forced to halt its contracts with outside mediators. Hopefully it's only temporary. Another problem is the failure of the state's human rights agency, which processes some of the EEOC's cases.