EEOC Releases Updated Draft Strategic Plan for Public Comment

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has taken another step in reshaping the agency under the Trump administration, voting to release a draft Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2026-2030 for public comment before final adoption. The plan outlines how the agency intends to allocate resources, measure performance, and pursue its mission over the next four years, while emphasizing efficiency, accountability, and what EEOC leadership describes as “evenhanded, merit-based enforcement” of federal employment discrimination laws. 

The Commission approved publication of the draft on July 1, opening a public comment period that runs through July 19, 2026. After reviewing stakeholder feedback, the Commission will vote on whether to adopt the plan in final form. 

Unlike the EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement Plan or recently adopted National Enforcement Plan — which establish substantive enforcement priorities — the Strategic Plan serves as the agency’s overarching management blueprint. Required under the Government Performance and Results Act, federal agencies must periodically publish strategic plans outlining their mission, long-term goals, and performance measures. Those plans then guide annual budgets, operational priorities, and agency evaluations. 

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According to the EEOC, the draft 2026-2030 Strategic Plan focuses on five broad objectives: strengthening enforcement through strategic use of the agency’s legal authority, modernizing intake services, expanding outreach to help prevent workplace discrimination, building a high-performing workforce, and improving operational efficiency and service delivery. 

EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said the proposal is intended to provide “a roadmap for advancing the EEOC’s mission” while ensuring the agency remains focused, accountable, and a responsible steward of taxpayer resources. She also emphasized the Commission’s commitment to enforcing federal civil rights laws on a merit-based basis. 

The proposal arrives amid significant changes at the EEOC. In recent weeks, the Commission has rescinded decades-old affirmative action guidance and replaced its Biden-era Strategic Enforcement Plan with a new National Enforcement Plan that redirects enforcement resources toward priorities aligned with the Trump administration. The new enforcement framework places greater emphasis on intentional discrimination claims, scrutiny of certain diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, religious liberty, anti-American national origin discrimination, and protections for single-sex spaces, while moving away from disparate-impact enforcement where possible. 

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Although the Strategic Plan itself is less policy-driven than the enforcement plan, it reflects many of the same themes. Rather than identifying specific legal theories or litigation targets, it establishes organizational goals intended to improve how the agency processes charges, delivers services, and measures performance. Those operational objectives could influence how quickly discrimination charges are processed, how resources are allocated among EEOC offices, and how the agency evaluates its own effectiveness over the coming years.

The public comment process gives employers, employee advocates, attorneys, labor organizations, and other stakeholders an opportunity to suggest revisions before the plan becomes final. The EEOC has used public input in previous strategic planning cycles, including development of its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan and earlier Strategic Enforcement Plans, which incorporated comments from employers, civil rights organizations, unions, and members of the public.

Once finalized, the Strategic Plan will serve as the agency’s primary management framework through fiscal year 2030, complementing the Commission’s recently adopted enforcement priorities while establishing the performance benchmarks by which the EEOC will measure its progress.