The commissioners acknowledge that more needs to be done to coordinate efforts. "These are very, very hard institutional issues to work through," said Miller, the commissioner.
Even when an issue is a clear priority, like protecting disabled employees, enforcement efforts often appear piecemeal.
The commission has sued Wal-Mart 16 times, most recently in June, because of complaints that the company was violating the rights of disabled employees. Only a handful of those cases have been resolved. The EEOC says it does not know at this point if the claims of discrimination at different stores reflect some company-wide policy.
Wal-Mart says it has a strict policy against discrimination of any kind. Critics also say the agency has often failed to use its full power to attack the most systemic cases of discrimination.
While the agency collects information from employers that can show discrimination patterns, it does not often use the data to file suits or to warn companies that they may be discriminating.
The political sensitivity over quotas has made the EEOC "cautious about numerical guides and standards," said Professor Blumrosen, despite what he believes is their legal authority to pursue cases on that basis.
The agency also remains backward in its use of technology. While it expects to upgrade its computer system soon, for now most people outside of headquarters cannot easily look up a specific company and see all the different discrimination complaints brought against it. "We use the data we have," Castro said. "We don't use it to the maximum extent."
While the EEOC has been aggressive in bringing lawsuits on behalf of some people who might not bring them, like mentally retarded employees and illegal immigrants, it has been hesitant to use its resources to go after what may be the very worst offenders, critics say. When accusations surfaced of sex discrimination at Wal-Mart, for example, three private law firms joined forces with three nonprofit legal groups to come up with the resources to pursue the case and spent more than a year gathering evidence.
The EEOC has also stayed on the sidelines of other high-profile cases, like a lawsuit against Xerox contending racial discrimination, or the recent suit accusing Microsoft of racial and sexual bias. The agency says it may at times defer to private lawyers or work with them on cases involving the public interest.
The companies involved in these lawsuits deny the accusations.
The agency says it tries to represent individuals as well as pursue suits that may have larger impact. About a third of the cases it is choosing involve groups of people or accusations of systemic discrimination.
Critics also say the agency does not adequately follow up on remedies for discrimination once it has reached an agreement with an employer to do so. While the agency monitors repeated complaints, it typically does not initiate reviews.
With limited resources, some people at the agency say choices must be made. "There is a point at which you have to say `next case,"' Rowe said.
Without greater support from both Republicans and Democrats, the EEOC may be destined to struggle along in this state. In many eyes, that appears likely.
"It seems that continual neglect is the preferred policy," said Selmi of George Washington University.
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