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house Bill H.R. 135

Changing How Federal Agencies Deal With Workplace Discrimination

Argument in favor

This bill increases federal agencies’ ability to take action against discrimination and retaliation. Everyone deserves to feel safe in the workplace, especially when they are reporting instances of discrimination or retaliation.

DrCindyBean-ConcernedVoter's Opinion
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01/06/2019
Absolutely support this bill for more protections for Federal workers.
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Eric's Opinion
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01/15/2019
More protections for our workers never hurt anybody
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Mary ann's Opinion
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01/07/2019
I work at environment where retaliation happens regularly. And it is a federal government job!!
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Argument opposed

Discrimination and retaliation in the workplace are bad things, yes. But there are already departments tasked with enforcing these rules in the federal government. Creating more bureaucracy isn’t the answer.

ldawg70's Opinion
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01/16/2019
This seems to be another farce the Dems are brewing; basically trying to “chase the ambulance” on everything that resembles “a cause.” Isn’t there already a law that protects employees from reprisals?
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Mindy's Opinion
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01/16/2019
Why are we voting on bills that already exist in this area just more redundancy.
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Tim's Opinion
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01/16/2019
No. Make it purely based on behavior. Are you doing the job or not?
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What is House Bill H.R. 135?

This bill would seek to prevent discrimination in federal agencies by creating new procedures for handling it. It'd set up an independent Equal Employment Opportunity program in every federal agency, tasked with resolving discrimination and retaliation issues. They would report directly to the head of the agency.
This bill would also establish new procedures for handling EEOC issues. If the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found a case of discrimination or retaliation in a federal agency, that agency would have 30 days to create a notification on their website detailing what happened, the laws that were broken and the day that the EEOC ruled on it. The agency would also have to put a link to this notification on their website’s homepage and leave it up for a year. The agency would also have to report to the EEOC on how the employee that made the violation was disciplined. EEOC rulings would also be reported to the Office of the Special Counsel.
Federal agencies would also have to initiate a tracking process for complaints of discrimination or retaliation. Employees that were subject to discriminatory action would have this noted in their personnel file. Finally, the bill bans non-disclosure agreements within federal agencies.

Impact

Federal agencies.

Cost of House Bill H.R. 135

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

More Information

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) re-introduced this bill with the support of four bipartisan cosponsors to strengthen protections for federal employees, and offered the following statement about it during the last Congress:

"The Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act will help ensure that federal employees can report discrimination without suffering retaliation and that such reports will be thoroughly, fairly, and timely investigated and adjudicated. The bill would also prohibit policies, forms or agreements that seek to prevent employees from disclosing waste, fraud, or illegal actions to the Congress."


Media:

Summary by Countable Team
(Photo Credit: Flickr user USDAgov) 

AKA

Elijah E. Cummings Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act of 2019

Official Title

To amend the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 to strengthen Federal antidiscrimination laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and expand accountability within the Federal Government, and for other purposes.

bill Progress

  • Not enacted
    The President has not signed this bill
  • The senate has not voted
      senate Committees
      Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • The house Passed January 15th, 2019
    Roll Call Vote 424 Yea / 0 Nay
      house Committees
      Committee on Oversight and Reform
    IntroducedJanuary 3rd, 2019
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