I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1032

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for improved and expedited

procedures for resolving complaints of unlawful employment discrimination arising within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 23, 1993

Mr. MONTGOMERY (for himself, Mr. STUMP, Mr. EDWARDS of California, Mr.

SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. APPLEGATE, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. EVANS, Mr.

QUINN, Mr. PENNY, Mr. ROWLAND, Mr. SLATTERY, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr.

SANGMEISTER, Ms. LONG, Mr. EDWARDS of Texas, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr.

FILNER, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. BAESLER, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. CLYBURN,

Mr. KREIDLER, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. HEFNER, Mr. RICHARDSON,

Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. PAYNE of Virginia, Mr. PARKER, and Mr. OLVER)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Veterans’ Affairs

A BILL

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for improved and expedited procedures for resolving complaints

of unlawful employment discrimination arising within the

Department of Veterans Affairs.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Veter5 ans Affairs Employment Discrimination Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOY2 MENT DISCRIMINATION RESOLUTION PROCE3 DURES.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title 38, United States Code, is

5 amended by inserting after chapter 7 the following new

6 chapter:

7 ‘‘CHAPTER 8—EMPLOYMENT

8 DISCRIMINATION

‘‘Sec.

‘‘801. Scope of chapter.

‘‘802. Office of Employment Discrimination Complaints Resolution.

‘‘803. Informal complaint resolution.

‘‘804. Investigation of complaints.

‘‘805. Final agency decision; hearings.

‘‘806. Review of final agency decisions.

‘‘807. Unlawful employment discrimination defined.

9 ‘‘§ 801. Scope of chapter

10 ‘‘(a) The procedures established in this chapter shall

11 be implemented in a manner consistent with procedures

12 applicable under regulations prescribed by the Equal Em13 ployment Opportunity Commission.

14 ‘‘(b) Nothing in this chapter supersedes any right or

15 obligation of an employee to elect (in lieu of procedures

16 under this chapter) to raise an allegation of unlawful em17 ployment discrimination under the appeal procedures of

18 the Merit Systems Protection Board or under grievance

19 procedures established under a collective bargaining agree20 ment.
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1 ‘‘§ 802. Office of Employment Discrimination Com2 plaints Resolution

3 ‘‘(a)(1) There is in the Department an Office of Em4 ployment Discrimination Complaints Resolution (herein5 after in this chapter referred to as the ‘Office’), which

6 shall be headed by a Director. The Director shall report

7 only to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary.

8 ‘‘(2) Subject to the direction of the Secretary, the Di9 rector shall have sole responsibility within the Department

10 for administering the procedures under this chapter for

11 resolving complaints of unlawful employment discrimina12 tion arising within the Department.

13 ‘‘(3) In addition to the functions of the Director

14 under paragraph (2), the Director shall perform such

15 other functions as the Secretary may prescribe consistent

16 with the functions of the Director under paragraph (2).

17 ‘‘(b) The Secretary shall employ within the Office ad18 ministrative law judges appointed in accordance with sec19 tion 3105 of title 5 for the purposes of this chapter and

20 such other personnel as the Office may require.

21 ‘‘(c) The Secretary shall ensure that the Director is

22 furnished sufficient resources to enable the Director to

23 carry out the functions of the Office under this chapter

24 in a timely manner.
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1 ‘‘(d) The Secretary shall include in the documents

2 submitted to Congress by the Secretary in support of the

3 President’s budget for each fiscal year—

4 ‘‘(1) detailed information on the budget for the

5 Office;

6 ‘‘(2) the Secretary’s opinion as to whether the

7 resources (including the number of employees) pro8 posed in the budget for that fiscal year are adequate

9 to enable the Secretary to comply with statutory and

10 regulatory deadlines for the administration of the

11 procedures under this chapter and other provisions

12 of law relating to the resolution of complaints of un13 lawful employment discrimination involving the De14 partment; and

15 ‘‘(3) a report on the activities of the Office dur16 ing the preceding fiscal year, including (A) a state17 ment of the number and nature of complaints of un18 lawful employment discrimination received and the

19 number and nature of complaints resolved, and the

20 results of any appellate review, during the year, (B)

21 a description of the timeliness of the resolution of

22 complaints during the year, and (C) a statement of

23 significant decisions and trends affecting the work of

24 the Office.

25 ‘‘(e)(1) The Director shall prescribe—
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1 ‘‘(A) standards of timeliness for the expeditious

2 resolution of complaints of unlawful employment dis3 crimination under this chapter;

4 ‘‘(B) the qualifications and training require5 ments for employees of the Office; and

6 ‘‘(C) requirements for record-keeping pertaining

7 to counseling and investigations by employees of the

8 Office.

9 ‘‘(2) Regulations under paragraph (1) shall be con10 sistent with regulations prescribed by the Equal Employ11 ment Opportunity Commission, except that, in the interest

12 of the expeditious resolution of complaints, the Director

13 may prescribe shorter time periods with respect to any

14 deadline or administrative period that is applicable only

15 to the time within which the Government may (or is re16 quired to) act.

17 ‘‘§ 803. Informal complaint resolution

18 ‘‘Employees of the Office shall counsel employees of

19 the Department, and applicants for employment with the

20 Department, who allege that they have been subject to un21 lawful employment discrimination by an officer or em22 ployee of the Department. The Office shall seek to resolve

23 such complaints in an expeditious and impartial manner

24 through informal investigation and conciliation using pro25 cedures prescribed by the Director.
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1 ‘‘§ 804. Investigation of complaints

2 ‘‘(a) If a complaint of unlawful employment discrimi3 nation is filed with the Department and the complaint is

4 not resolved through the informal resolution process under

5 section 803 of this title, the Director shall assign the com6 plaint to an administrative law judge, who shall determine

7 whether the complaint shall be accepted for investigation.

8 ‘‘(b)(1) The administrative law judge assigned to a

9 complaint shall make such determination in accordance

10 with regulations of the Equal Employment Opportunity

11 Commission, except that if the administrative law judge

12 determines that the complaint is without merit, the admin13 istrative law judge may determine that the complaint is

14 not to be accepted for investigation.

15 ‘‘(2) A decision that a complaint is not to be accepted

16 for investigation is a final agency decision of the matter.

17 ‘‘(c)(1) If the administrative law judge determines

18 that the complaint is to be accepted, the Director shall

19 promptly provide for an investigation of the complaint,

20 which shall be carried out by employees of the Office (or

21 by contract personnel acquired by the Director). The em22 ployee (or contractor) conducting the investigation shall

23 submit to the Director a complete written report of the

24 results of the investigation.

25 ‘‘(2) If a portion of a complaint is accepted for inves26 tigation and a portion is not accepted, the individual filing
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1 the complaint or the Department may request the admin2 istrative law judge to direct the suspension of the inves3 tigation of the portion of the complaint accepted for inves4 tigation pending the results of any review of the decision

5 not to accept the other portion.

6 ‘‘(3) The Director shall furnish a copy of the inves7 tigative report to the administrative law judge, the individ8 ual who filed the complaint, and the individual whose ac9 tions, or failure to act, gave rise to the complaint of unlaw10 ful employment discrimination. The administrative law

11 judge may direct that an additional investigation be made

12 if the administrative law judge determines that an addi13 tional investigation is warranted.

14 ‘‘(d) The Director shall prescribe standards for the

15 conduct of investigations under this section.

16 ‘‘§ 805. Final agency decision; hearings

17 ‘‘(a) The final agency decision on a complaint of un18 lawful unemployment discrimination, in a case not re19 solved through informal procedures under section 803 of

20 this title, shall be made by an administrative law judge.

21 ‘‘(b) The individual filing the complaint may request

22 a hearing on the matter. Any such request shall be made

23 in such time and manner as may be prescribed by the Di24 rector. The administrative law judge shall grant a request

25 for a hearing unless, after giving appropriate notice, the
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1 administrative law judge determines that there is no genu2 ine dispute as to a material fact.

3 ‘‘(c) In acting upon a complaint, an administrative

4 law judge—

5 ‘‘(1) may conduct a hearing on the matter;

6 ‘‘(2) may refer the matter for a hearing by a

7 hearing examiner; or

8 ‘‘(3) may decide the matter without a hearing.

9 ‘‘(d) If a hearing is held, the hearing shall be subject

10 to section 556 of title 5.

11 ‘‘§ 806. Review of final agency decisions

12 ‘‘(a) If the final agency decision in a case complaining

13 of unlawful employment discrimination by an officer or

14 employee of the Department is adverse to the individual

15 filing the complaint, the individual may appeal the deci16 sion to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

17 or to the appropriate United States district court, as pro18 vided by law.

19 ‘‘(b) If the final agency decision in such a case is

20 adverse to the Department, the Secretary may appeal the

21 decision to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commis22 sion. Any such appeal shall be made within 30 days after

23 the date of the decision. The Equal Employment Oppor24 tunity Commission may act on such an appeal in the same
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1 manner as in the case of an appeal by an individual

2 against a final agency decision.

3 ‘‘§ 807. Unlawful employment discrimination defined

4 ‘‘For purposes of this chapter, the term ‘unlawful em5 ployment discrimination’ means any action, or failure to

6 act, that is a violation of any of the following:

7 ‘‘(1) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

8 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.).

9 ‘‘(2) The Age Discrimination in Employment

10 Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.).

11 ‘‘(3) Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act

12 of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206).

13 ‘‘(4) Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of

14 1973 (29 U.S.C. 791).’’.

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The tables of chapters

16 at the beginning of title 38, United States Code, and at

17 the beginning of part I of such title, are amended by in18 serting after the item relating to chapter 7 the following

19 new item:

‘‘8. Employment Discrimination .................................................. 801’’.

20 SEC. 3. TRANSITION.

21 Chapter 8 of title 38, United States Code, as added

22 by section 2, shall apply with respect to complaints of un23 lawful employment discrimination that are filed after the

24 end of the six-month period beginning on the date of the

25 enactment of this Act. Any complaint filed before the end
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1 of such period shall be resolved in accordance with the

2 procedures in effect on the date of the enactment of this

3 Act.

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