At or Above Plan

Obj. 1 Initiative 3: Explore the feasibility of the Office of Human Rights entering into a work sharing agreement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as a Fair Employment Practices Agency.

Human Rights
Description

The Office of Human Rights is currently preparing to submit application materials to the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to determine the feasibility of becoming a Fair Employement Practices Agency (FEPA).


FEPA status would expand the Office of Human Rights' investigational jurisdiction over employment discrimination cases. FEPA status would allow the office to investigate cases within the City limits concerning an employer with six or more employees (the office is currently limited by state and federal law to investigations of employers with between 6 and 14 employees) and pertaining to any employment activity (the office is currently limited by state and federal law to investigations involving employee termination only).
Status


CY2018

At present, Office of Human Rights staff is assembling the documentation required to submit an application to the EEOC.


CY2019

Due to limited staffing and budget constraints, the OHR has not yet applied for FEPA status.


CY2020

After repeated attempts to contact the EEOC, OHR staff finally made contact with a representative at the end of the and set up a conference call with the HRC Chair and Vice Chair for early 2021. Additionally, some of the potential enforcement benefits of entering into a FEPA may be negated by the recent changes to state law with the General Assembly's passage of the Values Act. The Values Act lifted some of the restrictions that limited the scope of investigating employment discrimination cases by Attorney General's Office and local  municipalities. In short, it now allows for investigation of employment discrimination complaints for employers with more that 15 employees, which was previously only the jurisdiction of the EEOC. Jurisdictional benefits aside, FEPA status would allow for automatic dual state and federal filing when complainants filed with the OHR. Additionally, it would make filing a complaint more accessible for local residents.
Why and What it Achieves

FEPA status would:

  • Expand the Office of Human Rights' jurisdiction regarding employment discrimination cases.
  • Diminish referrals to the EEOC office in Richmond.
  • Potentially expand the number of locally handled employment discrimination cases.
  • Potentially expedite the handling of employment discrimination complaints and result in a quicker turnaround of determinations for the complainant.