Opinion ID: 184674
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Further Counseling on Class Issues

Text: 10 Before Wiggins sent the November 14 report to the ALJ, the ALJ responded on November 8 to the complainants' request for clarification of the scope of counseling: At a minimum, EEO counseling should address: the expanded class; training; assignment of positions; segregated facilities; distribution of work; promotion; and reprisal. Subsequently, Wiggins tried to contact the eight members of the expanded class and issued a second counseling report on December 4. 2 11 This December 4 counseling report is particularly important because it is the only document outlining the Board's repeated efforts to contact secretaries who worked or had worked for the Board outside of the Legal Division. According to the report, three women on the outside (including Wilson, who apparently did not forward a working telephone number to the EEO Counselor when Artis submitted her statement) were unreachable because of incorrect or unavailable telephone numbers; one woman did not respond to offers of an interview; two women declined to take part in counseling because they had been told by Artis' lawyer that the time for counseling had expired; one woman, Proctor, said she thought her issues were distinct from those of the class; 3 and one woman declined to participate. Both counseling reports and the case file were forwarded to the ALJ on January 5, 1996. 12 On January 17, 1996, complainants' lawyer sent the ALJ three documents for filing in the case. One document was a Second Amended Complaint, which again provided names of potential class agents outside of the Legal Division. The Second Amended Complaint is identical to the First Amended Complaint, except that it contains a new paragraph 71 naming seven additional class agents. 4 These additional seven women were the same women whom the Board had contacted or tried to contact while counseling was ongoing. The agents' counsel suggested a formal hearing or a short period of discovery--a process not provided for in EEOC or Board regulations--to determine the precise status and scope of the complaint.