The Congressional Research Service report dated Sept. 15 examines proposed changes to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s federal-sector equal employment opportunity complaint process. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Aug. 28, and commissioners voted 2-1 to adopt it. The EEOC says the proposal is intended to improve the workplace-discrimination process because the current system is too trial-like and too lengthy, while pre-complaint counseling rarely produces settlements.
The central policy trade-off is between simplifying the path for federal employees and assigning agencies a larger role in investigating and deciding complaints. The report says the proposal would shift some decisions about administrative class claims toward federal courts, but it does not establish that claimants would necessarily be forced into court.
Congress could shape the outcome by legislating procedures, directing rulemaking within statutory guidelines, or submitting comments before the public-comment period closes.
Under the existing framework, an employee must contact an agency’s EEO office for counseling within 45 days of an allegedly discriminatory action. An agency generally has 180 days to investigate, after which the complainant may request a hearing before an administrative judge appointed by the EEOC or seek an immediate final agency decision. Appeals go to the EEOC’s Office of Federal...
New Delhi: A digitally altered video circulating on social media falsely claims that China has taken control of Asaphila, Longju and Taksing Circle in Arunachal Pradesh and that the Indian Army ha...