DEMAND THAT THE EEOC COMPLY WITH THE REGULATORY PROCESS

Urgent Message: Please Deliver Immediately

To:   Representative ___________________  

        Fax No. _______________________

From:  _______________________________

       Address: ___________________ ____

        _______________________________

Dear Representative:

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is unilaterally moving forward with changes to the Federal Sector EEO process. These changes will short-circuit Federal employees’ rights to a hearing and to obtain evidence regarding their complaint through the discovery process. These changes do not comply with 29 CFR 1614. Any reform proposal, must go through the regulatory process, which includes publishing a public notice in the Federal Register. However, on March 25, 2004, senior management at the EEOC’s Washington Field Office announced a new Assessment Program for Hearings Units, which they state, [w]e are prepared to commence this project immediately. 

The new program strips Administrative Judges from exercising discretion on the disposition of their own cases.  Instead, bureaucratic personnel will assess cases for dismissal, assigning them a color to indicate processing instructions. Once a discrimination complaint is categorized red or yellow, the new program will bar Federal employees from seeking discovery to develop their cases.  Denying the right to discovery runs counter to the Federal regulation, as affirmed by the EEOC in its Management Directive 110: It is the Commission's policy that the parties are entitled, pursuant to 1614.109(b), to the reasonable development of evidence on the issues raised in the complaint. Once a case is dismissed a Federal employee’s only recourse will be the already overly burdened Federal Court system.

If the EEOC wants to introduce regulatory changes, then it must go through the regulatory process. Please call on EEOC’s Chair Cari Dominguez to halt the agency’s unilateral implementation of the Assessment Program for Hearings Units. 

Sincerely,