FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 26, 2026
August 26, 2026
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-374-6491
[email protected]
Proposed Changes to Federal EEO Process Will Stymie Efforts to Address Workplace Discrimination, Largest Federal Employee Union Says
Categories:
Women's & Fair Practices, EEOC
AFGE says resolving workplace bias will be harder for employees and more costly for taxpayers under EEOC’s proposed changes
WASHINGTON – Proposed changes to the process federal employees must follow when challenging workplace discrimination will make it more challenging for workers to win relief and more costly for taxpayers, the American Federation of Government Employees said today.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted 2-1 today to proceed with publication of proposed changes to the federal EEO process. The 150-page notice of proposed rulemaking will be published soon for 30 days of public comment.
The proposed changes would, among other things, eliminate the opportunity for employees to try to settle discrimination issues early through the pre-complaint counseling process, revoke the right for employees to have their case heard by an EEOC administrative judge, and eliminate the ability for employees facing similar issues to have their cases grouped together as an administrative class-action complaint.
“The changes being proposed by the EEOC will result in discrimination cases taking longer to resolve at greater cost to taxpayers, which is a disservice both to federal employees and the American public,” AFGE National Vice President for Women and Fair Practices Kendrick Roberson said. “The Trump administration is assigning the fox to guard the hen house. Under these proposed changes, when federal workers allege that an agency has discriminated against them, they will no longer have the right to have their case reviewed by a neutral judge. Instead, the agency will decide if the agency engaged in discrimination, and that is a crystal-clear conflict of interest and a denial of justice.”
One aspect of the proposed changes would eliminate the ability of federal employees to file class-action complaints at the administrative level. Instead, employees would have to pursue their cases individually – making it harder for judges to detect patterns of discriminatory behavior by agencies.
“The EEOC is undermining its legal responsibility and obligation to keep our federal workplaces free from discrimination and retaliation by proposing these radical changes to the existing complaint process,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said. “Congress has repeatedly said it wants the federal government to be a model employer, and these proposed changes will make that endeavor more difficult to attain.”
On July 28, AFGE and two federal employees from the Bureau of Prisons filed a lawsuit against the EEOC challenging its suspension of processing federal-sector class complaints pending before its administrative judges, which is preventing hearings and decisions on properly filed complaints. Our motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to prevent EEOC from implementing the policy is pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
AFGE will be submitting formal comments on the EEOC’s proposed changes once they have been published for review.
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