Office of Federal Operations Webinar: Guide to Appeal Brief Writing

Event Date: February 22, 2022
Time: 2:00 pm, Eastern Time
Sources: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Office of Federal Operations

On January 24, 2022 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a “Guide to Writing Appeal Briefs for Unrepresented Complainants”, intended to assist federal employees and applicants with their employment discrimination complaint appeals to the EEOC.

The Office of Federal Operations [OFO] will host a webinar on February 22, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. [Eastern Standard Time] to discuss the guide in detail. Registration for the webinar is required [at]: Guide to Appeal Brief Writing. Closed captioning will be provided. Send requests for reasonable accommodation to FedeNews@eeoc.gov with “Request for Accommodation” in the subject line. For detailed information on upcoming webinars follow the EEOC’s OFO on Twitter @EEOC_OFO and on Facebook. The public may also receive federal sector information updates and news items via GovDelivery.

As a resource for federal employees or applicants without legal representation, the guide explains what content should be included in an appeal brief and how it should be organized. The guide helps make the appeal process more accessible by providing an explanation of how to support or oppose an appeal, sample briefs that can be downloaded and used as templates, and a glossary for technical and legal terms.

The first step to reporting discrimination for federal employees or applicants is to contact their federal agency’s equal employment opportunity (EEO) counselor who will guide employees and applicants through the discrimination complaint process. This process will result in a voluntary resolution of the complaint or a final decision issued by the federal agency. At the end of the process, employees or applicants who disagree with an agency’s final determination may file an appeal with the EEOC or challenge the decision in federal court.

Approximately three-quarters of all appeals on the merits involve self-represented federal employees or applicants and about half of them do not submit appeal briefs. Over the five-year period of fiscal years 2016 to 2020, a little more than one-third of the federal sector appeals decisions that found that agencies had subjected complainants to discrimination involved self-represented employees or applicants.

Federal executive branch employees and job applicants are protected from employment discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. The law also protects them from retaliation for opposing employment discrimination, filing a complaint of discrimination, or participating in the EEO complaint process (including for other employees).

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information about the EEOC’s work generally can be found at eeoc.gov.