EEO Complaint Process Guide for Federal Employees

Federal employees are protected against workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. If you experience any of these, you have the right to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”).

Federal law protects employees from discrimination in the workplace based on the following categories:

Federal law safeguards you from retaliation, regardless of whether you personally filed the complaint. Your employer is legally forbidden from retaliating against you for actions including:

Regardless of the federal agency you work for, contact information for your agency’s EEO Office should be available online.

The first step in filing an EEO complaint is to contact an EEO Counselor at the agency where you work or apply for a job. This contact must be made within 45 days of the date of the alleged discriminatory incident. You will generally be given the option of participating in EEO counseling or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) process, such as mediation.

If your dispute remains unresolved after counseling or ADR, you can proceed to file a formal complaint with your agency’s EEO office. Once the EEO Counselor provides you with filing instructions, you must submit your complaint within fifteen (15) days.

Once you file your formal complaint, the agency will review it to ensure there are no procedural issues that would prevent the case from moving forward (such as missing deadlines). If your complaint is not dismissed, the agency is required to conduct a thorough investigation, which must be completed within 180 days of the date you filed your complaint.

Following the investigation, the agency will notify you of its findings and offer you two choices:

If you choose to have the agency issue a decision and they find no discrimination, or if you are dissatisfied with any part of the agency’s decision, you have the right to appeal the decision to the EEOC or to challenge it by filing a lawsuit in federal district court.

If you wish to have your case heard by an EEOC Administrative Judge, you must submit a request for a hearing. You can submit your request either in writing or online through the EEOC Public Portal. The Administrative Judge will conduct the hearing, make a decision, and order appropriate relief if they find that discrimination occurred.

After receiving the Administrative Judge’s decision, the agency has 40 days to issue a final order. This order will inform you whether the agency accepts the judge’s decision and whether it will provide any relief that the judge ordered. The final order will also include information about your right to appeal the decision to the EEOC, your right to file a civil action in federal district court, and the deadlines for both.

You have the right to appeal the agency’s final order, even if your complaint was dismissed. Your appeal must be filed with the EEOC’s Office of Federal Operations within 30 days of receiving the order. You can file your appeal online through the EEOC’s Public Portal.

Once your appeal is filed, EEOC appellate attorneys will review the entire record. This includes the agency’s investigation, the Administrative Judge’s decision, the hearing transcript (if a hearing was held), and any statements submitted during the appeal process. If the agency disagrees with any part of the Administrative Judge’s decision, they also have the right to file an appeal with the EEOC.

If you disagree with the EEOC’s decision on your appeal, you may request a reconsideration of the decision. Your request will only be granted if you can show that the decision was based on a mistake in the facts of your case or the applicable law. You must submit your request for reconsideration within 30 days of receiving the EEOC’s decision on your appeal. The agency also has the right to request reconsideration. Once the EEOC makes a decision on a reconsideration request, that decision is final.

You must complete the administrative complaint process before filing a lawsuit. However, you can choose to stop the process and file a lawsuit in court at these points:

Overwhelmed by the EEO process? We understand this process can be daunting, lengthy, and costly. The Law Office of Stephanie F. Dominguez works to make the process as efficient and cost-effective as possible for our clients while ensuring the timely filing of complaints.