Questions and Answers: No FEAR Act

Q: What is the No FEAR Act?

A: The Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No 

FEAR Act) became effective on October 1, 2003. The Act imposes additional duties upon 

Federal agency employers intended to reinvigorate their longstanding obligation to provide a 

work environment free of discrimination and retaliation.

Q: What are the new duties that the No FEAR Act places on a Federal agency?

A: The additional obligations contained in the No FEAR Act can be broken down into five 

categories.

• A Federal agency must reimburse the Judgment Fund for payments made to employees, 

former employees, or applicants for Federal employment because of actual or alleged 

violations of Federal employment discrimination laws, Federal whistleblower protection 

laws, and retaliation claims arising from the assertion of rights under those laws.

• An agency must provide annual notice to its employees, former employees, and 

applicants for Federal employment concerning the rights and remedies applicable to them 

under the employment discrimination and whistleblower protection laws.

• At least every two years, an agency must provide training to its employees, including 

managers, regarding the rights and remedies available under the employment 

discrimination and whistleblower protection laws.

• An agency must submit to Congress, EEOC, the Department of Justice, and OPM, an 

annual report setting forth information about the agency's efforts to improve compliance 

with the employment discrimination and whistleblower protection laws and detailing the 

status of complaints brought against the agency under these laws.

• An agency must post quarterly on its public Web site summary statistical data pertaining 

to EEO complaints filed with the agency.

Q: How are Federal employees, applicants and former employees notified of their rights and 

remedies?

A: Current employees should have received the required notification, either in paper form (e.g., 

memorandum or poster) or electronic form (e.g., e-mail, internal agency electronic site). Each 

agency's initial notice, which was due no later than November 17, 2006, should have been 

published in the Federal Register. If an agency has a public Web site, the notice must appear 

there as well. The Federal Register and public Web site notices fulfill the agency's notice 

obligation towards former employees and applicants. New employees must receive the notice 

within 90 days of entering on duty.

Q: What information must the notice contain?
A: At a minimum, the notice must contain the language set forth in OPM's implementing 

regulations. OPM's notice, which contains the minimum information necessary, can be accessed 

at http://www.opm.gov/about_opm/nofear/notice.asp.

Q: How often must employees receive No FEAR training?

A: Current employees should have received the applicable training on or before December 17, 

2006. Thereafter, an agency must conduct training no less than every two years. New employees 

should receive the applicable training as part of the agency's orientation program. If an agency 

does not have an orientation program, new employees must receive the applicable training within 

90 days of their appointment.

Q: When must the annual report be submitted and what types of information must it contain?

A: Within 180 days of the end of each fiscal year, an agency must submit its annual report to 

Congress, EEOC, DOJ and OPM.

Among the items that must be included in the report are the following: the number, status, and 

disposition of pending or resolved Federal court cases against the agency arising under the 

applicable employment discrimination and whistleblower protection laws; the amount of money 

the agency was required to reimburse the Judgment Fund; the number of individuals the agency 

disciplined and the types of discipline administered for violations of the employment 

discrimination and whistleblower protection laws; a description of the agency's policy for taking 

disciplinary action against employees for conduct inconsistent with employment discrimination 

and whistleblower protection laws; all the statistical data the agency is required to post on its 

public Web site; and, an analysis of the preceding information and any action the agency has or 

will take to improve its complaint and civil rights programs with the goal of eliminating 

employment discrimination and retaliation.

Q: What kind of information has to be posted on an agency's public web site?

A: Information to be posted includes, among other things: the number of complaints filed; the 

number of persons filing those complaints; the number of persons filing multiple complaints; the 

bases and issues alleged in the complaints; the average length of time in takes an agency to 

complete certain stages of the complaint process; the number of final agency actions in which 

discrimination is found, broken down by issue, basis, and whether a hearing was held; the 

number of pending complaints that were filed in previous fiscal years, including the number of 

persons who filed those complaints; and, the number of complaints in which an investigation was 

not completed in a timely manner. An agency is to post current fiscal year data, updated 

quarterly, as well as data for the past five fiscal years.

Q: What are EEOC's responsibilities under the No FEAR Act?

A: Title III of the No FEAR Act authorizes EEOC to prescribe the time, form and manner in 

which a federal agency shall post on its public Web site summary statistical data pertaining to 
EEO complaints filed with the agency. EEOC has done so by regulation. EEOC's No FEAR 

regulation can be found at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-12432.htm.

Title III further requires EEOC to post on its public Web site summary statistical data relating to 

(1) hearings requested before an EEOC administrative judge and (2) appeals filed with EEOC 

from final agency actions. The information that must be posted about hearings and appeals 

parallels the information agencies must post about complaints (e.g., number of hearings 

requested and appeals filed, the bases and issues alleged in each, the number of findings of 

discrimination, and length of time to process hearings and appeals). This summary data can be 

found at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/nofear/index.cfm.

Q: What are OPM's responsibilities under the No FEAR Act?

A: Title II of the No FEAR Act authorizes OPM, through a delegation of authority from the 

President, to issue rules regarding an agency's obligation to: 1) reimburse the Judgment Fund for 

payments made to employees, former employees, and applicants, because of actual or alleged 

violations of Federal antidiscrimination laws, whistleblower protection laws, and retaliation 

claims; 2) notify and train employees, former employees, and applicants, of their rights under 

antidiscrimination and whistleblower protection laws; and 3) report annually on certain topics 

regarding antidiscrimination and whistleblower protection laws, including disciplinary actions 

taken for conduct that is inconsistent with these laws. OPM's No FEAR regulations can be found 

at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-4319.htm; http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-

11541.htm; and, http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-22242.htm.

Finally, OPM must conduct a study of best practices in the executive branch for taking 

disciplinary action against employees for conduct that is inconsistent with employment 

discrimination and whistleblower protection laws. OPM will then issue advisory guidelines 

incorporating these best practices. Within 30 working days of their issuance, each agency must 

submit to Congress, EEOC, DOJ and OPM a statement indicating whether it has adopted the 

OPM guidelines, and if not, its reasons for not adopting them.