§319 Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication

Summary

Creates an Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication in the Department, led by a Director who must be a career member of the Senior Executive Service and who reports straight to the Secretary or Deputy Secretary. The Director makes the Department’s final decisions on the substance of any discrimination complaint filed by an employee or job applicant. Those decisions must be fair and unbiased. No one may have private, one-sided contact with the Director or Office staff about a case the Director will decide. The Director must tell the Secretary or Deputy Secretary right away if they suspect someone was punished for asserting equal employment rights, and the Secretary or Deputy Secretary must act. The Office must have enough lawyers and staff to do its work. Lawyers must be paid no less than lawyers in the Office of the General Counsel. The Secretary must give the Director enough other resources to work on time. Performance reviews for the Director and staff must not count whether they decided for or against the Department.