EEOC OFFERS DETAILS ABOUT FEDERAL SECTOR HEARINGS

New Web Page Provides Practical Information to Assist Pro Se Complainants

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has posted on its web site new, practical information, in the form of frequently asked questions, about the administrative hearing process for redress of federal sector discrimination complaints.

The recently posted web page, available at www.eeoc.gov/federal/faq_fshp.html, is designed to assist complainants without legal representation.  It includes information about the parties involved; steps that take place prior to, at and after a hearing; definitions of legal terminology; and a variety of sample forms and orders.

"Our administrative judges nationwide are constantly told by complainants and their representatives that there is a critical need for information they can understand about how the federal sector hearing process is conducted," said Nicholas M. Inzeo, Director of the EEOC's Office of Field Programs, which oversees the federal sector hearing program.  "This new web page, drafted by a Commission administrative judge, answers, in lay terms, the questions we hear most often about practices, procedures, processes and protocol."

The web page covers a wide range of topics about federal sector hearings from the most basic questions to complex legal requirements.  In addition to bulleted questions-and-answers, visitors to the page can link to text of laws prohibiting employment discrimination against federal employees and applicants.  In the near future, the EEOC plans to expand the page into a more comprehensive plain language handbook guiding pro se complainants through the administrative hearing process.

Employees or applicants who believe that they have been discriminated against by a federal agency have the right to file a complaint with that agency.  In most instances, after the agency investigates the complaint, the complainant may request a hearing before an EEOC administrative judge who then issues a decision.  Further information about the EEOC and the federal sector complaint process is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.