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Some lawyers say dismissing complaints without full investigations can discourage workers from pursuing their claim in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s easy to say there\u2019s no reasonable cause if you don\u2019t do an investigation,\u201d said Richard T. Seymour, an employment lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attorney Jacob Small said many workers don\u2019t want to go through the lengthy, emotionally draining and very public process of filing a lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo many people realize it\u2019s just easier for them to move on or to take a very small settlement that doesn\u2019t compensate them for the harm they\u2019ve actually suffered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agency\u2019s handling of federal employee complaints often takes even longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Federal employees must first file a complaint with their agency\u2019s equal employment office, which conducts an investigation. The employee may then file a lawsuit or request a hearing with an EEOC administrative judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The average time to resolve a federal complaint with the EEOC is about a year and a half, though complaints filed in busy offices can take much longer. In 2016, just 73 judges were tasked with handling roughly 20,000 cases. By the end of the year, 13,500 were left in the queue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have some cases that have sat on judges\u2019 desks for five years with no hearing date in sight,\u201d said Rosemary Dettling, the founder of the Federal Employee Legal Services Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dettling said some clients endure years of harassment and retaliation. Others look for other jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur clients\u2019 suffering is real,\u201d she said. \u201cSome leave the jobs they love, just to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1993, Ann M. Garcia was an ambitious 34-year-old agent at the Drug Enforcement Agency with dreams of going overseas. But headquarters had told her that she shouldn\u2019t stray far from home because her husband might get bored and leave her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She filed a discrimination complaint with the EEOC alleging her employer illegally denied female agents promotions and foreign assignments because of their gender. An agency judge ruled in her favor \u2014 in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was 52 and had retired, along with more than 70 other female agents who\u2019d joined her complaint. While the action was pending Garcia did receive a foreign assignment, but many of the others didn\u2019t, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll the emotional distress \u2014 the anger, the anxiety,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThey say time heals everything. But what happens if something just never ends?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protracted cases can also prevent harassment victims from moving on and cause memories to become less reliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTry to litigate a case where you\u2019re taking depositions two or three years after the fact,\u201d said attorney Les Alderman. \u201cThose fuzzy memories turn into generalities. The delays really, really hurt victims.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inzeo said the agency is in the process of hiring at least six more administrative judges to ease the burden. Currently, judges each can handle up to 200 cases a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inzeo disputed that cases typically drag on for years, but said he recognizes the frustration many feel over long wait times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are working on projects that will reduce the amount of time, reduce the complexity of it and make it more efficient, for the parties and for us, and reduce inventory, and help us get through the cases more quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite its problems, Harris, the Washington employment lawyer, stressed that the EEOC is an invaluable resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey can literally change people\u2019s lives and remedy harm,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an agency with an incredible power to heal wounds. It\u2019s a wonderful system. It\u2019s just underfunded, and completely broken.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Employment lawyers say the cash-strapped agency is doing its best. But they also say the uptick of sexual harassment cases being brought to the EEOC could mean longer wait times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":37828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":40,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,33,9,40],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5179],"class_list":["post-22405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight","category-watchdogs"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"JI5FBM6XFBEEPEDZ6FZ2Z6WICI","arc_canonical_url":"\/federal-oversight\/watchdogs\/2018\/04\/09\/at-the-eeoc-harassment-cases-can-languish-for-years\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n