As Table III indicates, in FY 1997, the Office of General Counsel filed 93 class cases. This number was exceeded in each of the successive years, peaking in FY 2001 (Table VII), with a total of 133 class cases filed, a 43% increase in the number of class cases filed in FY 1997. As discussed in the OGC report on the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Goals for FY 2001, in FY 1997, the number of class cases on the active litigation docket was 112, or 30% of the total docket; by FY 2001, this had increased to 210 class cases on the active litigation docket, or 40% of the total docket.

Another priority identified in FY 1997 was to increase the number of suits alleging equal pay violations. In that year, the Commission filed a total of four suits under the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and concurrently under the EPA and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.(3) (See Table III.) Again, this number was exceeded in each of the following years, peaking in FY 2001 (Table VII) when OGC filed a total of 12 suits under the EPA and the EPA/Title VII, a threefold increase over the number filed in FY 1997. After the baseline year of FY 1997, OGC filed 36 suits alleging equal pay violations in just four years, averaging nine such suits each year.