The Defense Department has launched three pilot programs that promise to reduce harassment and discrimination complaint processing timelines and standardize how the department handles equal employment opportunity (EEO) programs.
Anthony Tata, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, recently announced that the pilots will seek to cut EEO investigation timelines in half, centralize EEO operations across the department and expedite cases involving senior leaders.
The pilot programs are part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s broader effort to overhaul military equal opportunity and civilian equal employment opportunity programs, which he claims have been “weaponized,” with some individuals using these processes “in bad faith to retaliate against superiors or peers.” Hegseth coined it as the “no more walking on eggshells” policy.
Tata said on social media platform X that less than 1% of final agency decisions for EEO complaints result in a finding of discrimination, arguing that the program needs to be reformed to prevent its “weaponization.”
“We will safeguard due process, deliver timely justice and protect personnel from unfair professional and reputational harm,” Tata said.
But legal experts cautioned that the figure Tata cited does not mean that 99% of complaints lack merit. They said the percentage of cases that ultimately result in a finding of discrimination is not a meaningful measure of the effectiveness of EEO programs.
The 1% figure only represents complaints that make it through the entire EEO process, but it does not account for complaints resolved through settlements, withdrawals or successful alternative dispute resolutions.
“The reality is EEO processes are designed to facilitate early resolution of claims, and also early identification of claims that are not part of the EEO process,” Michelle Bercovici, a partner with the Alden Law Group, told Federal News Network.
“If someone contacts an EEO counselor and they are raising a whistleblowing issue, or a general bullying issue, or someone’s contacting the EEO counselor with a really meritorious issue of discrimination… Ideally, that’s putting the agency on notice so that they can take prompt action. Sometimes that’s stopping harassment. Sometimes that’s providing an accommodation. Sometimes that means that everyone goes to mediation and finds a resolution that allows all the parties to move forward. I think that the reality is a lot more cases resolved through settlement than through a merit-based finding,” she added.
The strongest cases, Bercovici said, usually get resolved before a formal finding is ever issued.
“If the agency recognizes there is discrimination early on, they usually will be correcting that. They have the duty to respond to and correct that,” Bercovici said.
“This idea that the process has been weaponized, or the fact that only a very small percentage of findings are in favor of complainants doesn’t mean that the process is broken or invalid. I think that is a really dangerous attitude, it’s really dangerous to say just because there is only a 1% finding of discrimination that means that complaints are meritorious. That’s far from the case. In fact, really strong cases would resolve earlier on,” she added.
Standardizing EEO processes
It remains unclear how the department plans to standardize its EEO processes. The Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment but said that “the pilots remain underway,” and that the department “continues to assess progress against established objectives.”
Bercovici said the department’s existing EEO process is “far from perfect,” with complaints getting lost in the system and many offices struggling with severe backlogs. In addition, DoD’s overall EEO policy has not been updated in a long time.
But she cautioned against reducing the number of EEO personnel and offices as part of the effort.
“Having someone nearby who’s able to handle the EEO program, who’s not overwhelmed, who has time to talk to people, is really essential. I think one of the primary functions of the EEO office is to start with that initial counselor to be advising people. Do you have a complaint? Is this a complaint? What options are available to you?” Bercovici said. “Having prompt access to complaint processing is really important, functionally speaking.”
“As long as they don’t get rid of that personal component where people have properly trained EEO counselors or EEO personnel, I think that’s the most critical first step,” she added.
Hegseth’s memo states that centralizing EEO program organization would include consolidating EEO counselor operations to “ensure consistent application and timely resolution of EEO complaints, allowing DoD leaders to focus on national security.”
Hegseth also said the pilot would “institute a technology solution,” but DoD did not respond to questions about what technology will be implemented as part of this pilot or how it will be used.
Senior official EEO cases
The second pilot seeks to expedite EEO cases involving senior officials, a change that could impact how pending complaints influence promotions and other personnel actions.
Under the new policy, promotions could only be blocked if there is an investigation that substantiates the allegations or shows the claims are likely to be substantiated, meaning a pending complaint against a general would not impact the officer’s promotion until and unless the agency issues a final agency decision or an administrative judge substantiates harassment.
Bercovici said the biggest bottleneck here is the investigative process itself and ensuring that EEO offices have adequate funding and staff to be able to handle those complaints should be the first step.
Hegseth’s memo also calls for exploring alternative IT solutions, like artificial intelligence to expedite investigation of these cases.
“You need to have a functional system because the biggest bottleneck that is the most problematic are the bottlenecks under the agency’s control, which is the investigative process. And especially if you have a case against a senior official, I would hope that the agency wants that investigation to be as accurate as possible. It’s in everybody’s interest. Instead of throwing money at AI, step one has to be, ‘Do my EEO offices have the staff, have the funding, have the basic tools necessary to conduct investigations?’” Bercovici said.
Reducing investigation timelines
Another pilot aims to cut investigation timelines in half.
Currently, the agency has 180 days till the complaint is filed to complete its investigation.
Bercovici questioned whether DoD is consistently meeting that existing requirement to complete investigations within the 180-day window before attempting to cut that timeline in half.
“I’m not sure that the Department of Defense is necessarily doing that right now across all of the agencies,” she said.
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