§319 Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication

Summary

Creates an Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication inside the Department and puts a Director in charge. The Director must be a career appointee in the Senior Executive Service and reports to the Secretary or Deputy Secretary. The Director must make the final agency decision on the merits of any discrimination complaint filed with the Department by an employee or job applicant. Decisions must be fair and objective. No one may make private, one-sided communications to the Director or any Office employee about a matter the Director must decide. If the Director thinks someone was punished for asserting rights under an equal employment opportunity law, the Director must tell the Secretary or Deputy Secretary, who must act. The Office must have enough lawyers and staff to do its work. Lawyers must be paid at the same level as attorneys in the Office of the General Counsel. The Secretary must give the Director enough extra resources to do the job on time. Performance reviews of the Director or any Office employee must not count how they decided cases for or against the Department.