Gutting Civil Rights Offices Leaves Federal Workers Few Options

The Trump administration is quietly downsizing offices across the government that are responsible for processing internal discrimination claims, further impeding workers’ access to remedies outside of private lawsuits.

Equal Employment Opportunity offices in the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services have been wiped out by several rounds of layoffs, according to attorneys and former workers.

Those actions come as the administration has already invalidated collective bargaining rights for two-thirds of the federal workforce, stripped watchdog agencies of their leadership rendering them ineffective, and eliminated removal protections for many civil servants. The closures of EEO and civil rights offices, on top of the personnel policy shakeups and widespread layoffs, effectively wall off another path for many workers to have their grievances heard.

While the administration directed employees who had filed or were filing discrimination complaints against the government to a new point of contact for their cases, worker attorneys say investigations are being delayed past statutory deadlines and leaving complainants in limbo.

“I suspect their claims will just get held in the balance and nothing will be done to investigate or address them,” said Joanna Friedman, a deputy managing partner representing workers with the Federal Practice Group. “This ultimately means we’re giving agencies a free slate to discriminate and not be held accountable.”

EEO offices conduct initial investigations for federal worker complaints. Those decisions can ultimately be adjudicated by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission administrative judges, giving federal workers another avenue to pursue their complaints. EEO offices also maintain the commission’s mandate for a “model EEO program,” which includes proactive discrimination prevention and legal compliance responsiveness.

Offices ‘Needed More Than Ever’

According to Friedman, HHS laid off everyone at the EEO offices in the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the National Institutes of Health.

Ann Tabor had worked at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights at CMS for 13 years when she received her RIF notice at the end of March. She told Bloomberg Law that her entire office was laid off, including management, without time to organize or transfer their case files.

They were recalled several times to catalogue active cases, but weren’t informed of plans to continue processing them before being terminated in mid-July, she said.

DHS dismantled its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties which investigates rights violations in immigration law enforcement in late March. And SSA shuttered its Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity in February in what Acting Commissioner of Social Security Lee Dudek said was a “streamlining” of agency functions that “advances the President’s goal to make all of government more efficient in serving the American public.”

The administration’s statement said it would “transfer” the office’s legal duties “to other SSA components to ensure compliance with existing legal authorities.”

The cuts come as the Trump administration seeks to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, where Black, Asian, and Native American workers, as well as people with disabilities, are employed at higher rates than in the private sector.

“To eliminate these offices at a time when it’s needed more than ever, it suggests to me that this is intentional,” Tabor said of the elimination of EEO positions. “They want to be able to discriminate against people with no consequences.”

Delays, Legal Liabilities

Friedman said she has at least two clients who were in the middle of EEO investigations when the layoffs occurred. The agencies’ new EEO officers then informed her they had lost all investigatory materials, and would need to conduct interviews and gather evidence again.

According to the EEOC’s website, agencies have 180 days to carry out investigations once a worker files a formal complaint. When that investigation is finished, the employee can then decide if they want their case heard before an EEOC administrative law judge or if they want the agency EEO office to issue a decision. Those decisions can then be appealed up to the EEOC Office of Federal Operations.

If an agency fails to complete an investigation in the 180-day window, federal regulations allow complainants to directly ask the EEOC for a hearing to seek sanctions and summary judgment.

“I know how to do that because I’m an attorney. For complainants that don’t know that, I don’t know what has happened to them,” Friedman said.

Damages in discrimination cases can range between $5,000 to $300,000, she added.

“HHS remains in full compliance with federal regulations and is streamlining processes as part of a broader transformation to ensure the Department serves the American people as effectively as possible,” an HHS spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Representatives for DHS and the EEOC didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Staffing Fallout

While there have always been some agencies that struggled to comply with the 180-day deadline, the delays are more significant now, said Stephanie Rapp-Tully, a partner at Tully Rinckey PLLC.

Even offices that remain intact are losing staff, leaving one person in an equal employment office to do a handful of jobs, Rapp-Tully said.

“I have had EEO counselors tell me, ‘I’m wearing seven hats right now,’” she said.

The offices’ investigations are also complicated by the amount of workers exiting the workforce through deferred resignation offers, who might otherwise be needed to serve as witnesses or parties to complaints, Rapp-Tully added.

Workers who want to seek relief outside of the administrative process can do so once the agency’s investigation exceeds 180 days. However, Friedman said most employees likely won’t choose to go to federal district court because of the cost barrier.

“The vast majority of complainants cannot afford an attorney, and navigating this process without an attorney is significant because they don’t know how to do it if the system isn’t working properly,” she said.