EEOC to Streamline Federal Employee Charge Process; Private Sector Next?

By Richard Lehr - Lehr Middlebrooks Vreeland & Thompson, P.C.

September 21, 2026

There is a unique charge process for federal employees, in contrast to everyone else, private and public.  Under current EEOC rules, federal employees undergo a lengthy counseling process prior to filing a complaint.  Charges result in a hearing before an administrative law judge—all charges are treated this way.  Class claims take even longer for the agency to process for the 2 million federal government employees.  It can take years for an individual charging party’s claim to be decided.

On August 26, 2026, the EEOC proposed major changes to the federal employee charge handling process.  There will be no pre-charge filing required counseling.  Hearings before an administrative law judge will not be automatic—they will occur only if necessary.  The EEOC will also communicate more information to federal employees about complaint decisions and related data.

It takes the EEOC an average of 10 months to complete an investigation of a charge filed by a non-federal government employee, well below the years it takes for federal employee charges.  Perhaps FY 2027 will include modifications to how the EEOC processes non-federal employee charges, considering fewer than 5% of all charges annually result in reasonable cause findings.  The EEOC will want to emphasize more potentially litigation-worthy charges and take less staff time to investigate/dismiss the meritless charges.

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