CWC has reached out to all major federal agencies that
regulate the workplace to learn how coronavirus operational changes, such as
telework policies, may impact employers and other stakeholders. Today, the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) notified us that they are
working in a 100% telework environment. The agency’s electronic portals are
working and they are continuing to conduct intake interviews by phone. In
addition, many EEOC offices have sent up email boxes for “fax to email”
services for attorneys to submit charges to EEOC.
The EEOC’s portal for respondents is open and the EEOC
continues to send notifications and receive position statements through the
portal. EEOC staff tell CWC that they will use their portal as fully as
possible, perhaps at times in combination with email, to send out resolution
documents. The EEOC is also experimenting with conducting mediation
sessions remotely, with one office reporting holding four mediation sessions by
phone just yesterday.
EEOC staff have also told CWC that they will not be able to
operate as efficiently when it comes to handling mail as most offices do not
have immediate access to their mail. To help alleviate the impact of this, the
EEOC is requesting that all parties using email and the portals as much as
possible.
We’ll continue to monitor agency operational changes. Please
let us know if you have any questions.