{"id":4489,"date":"2026-07-29T17:42:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4489"},"modified":"2026-07-29T17:42:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:42:42","slug":"eeoc-has-indefinitely-suspended-all-federal-sector-class-complaints-lawsuit-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4489","title":{"rendered":"EEOC has indefinitely suspended all federal-sector class complaints, lawsuit claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The lawsuit claims that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ordered an indefinite suspension of federal-sector class complaints pending before the agency\u2019s administrative judges, who handle discrimination complaints from federal workers in a process that is different than for private sector workers.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4487\">He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he\u2019s just turned down $400 million for it\u2014and gave it all to charity instead<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The two women, who are correctional officers at a Louisiana federal prison, have a pending certified class complaint against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, claiming that prison management failed to prevent and correct widespread sexual harassment by inmates against female workers, including rape threats, unwanted touching and nudity. The women, Deanna Chelette and Alexzandria Boyd, were joined in their lawsuit by the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It is not clear why the EEOC gave the suspension directive, which the agency had not publicly disclosed, or how many other cases are affected. The EEOC referred all questions to the Department of Justice, which declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p>Under President Donald Trump, the EEOC has\u00a0drastically overhauled its civil rights enforcement priorities, including prioritizing cases aimed at stamping out diversity and inclusion policies, dropping cases on behalf of\u00a0transgender workers\u00a0and\u00a0abandoning longstanding tools for investigating systemic discrimination. The changes have prompted several lawsuits against EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, who says she is pursuing an \u201ceven-handed\u201d and \u201ccolorblind\u201d vision of workplace civil rights.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not apparent how the order to suspend federal-sector class claims fits into the EEOC\u2019s new priorities. In the court filing, attorneys for the plaintiffs said the EEOC had provided \u201cno reasoned explanation for a blanket policy that halts an entire category of discrimination cases.\u201d The lawsuit seeks to have the suspension directive vacated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout an explanation, it\u2019s hard to infer what the EEOC\u2019s intentions behind this were, but it\u2019s hard to ignore that this is part of a broader campaign at the EEOC to undermine the ability of employees to protect rights that Congress has provided to them under the civil rights laws,\u201d said Joseph Sellers, co-chair of Cohen Milstein Sellers &amp; Toll\u2019s civil rights and employment practice and one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The pending class complaint claimed that management at Louisiana\u2019s Federal Correctional Complex at Pollock failed to stop inmates from subjecting female workers to sexual harassment. The complaint included declarations from eight other women who also described the harassment and management\u2019s response, and estimated that the class complaint would include least 182 women. The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>According the lawsuit against the EEOC, Administrative Judge Erania Ebron had certified the class in March 2025. But in December, Ebron issued a notice that case had been paused until further notice.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4485\">Fed expected to hold rates as Iran-Jordan clash reignites war fears, with oil prices jumping more than 4%<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Attorneys in the case argued that the suspension violates the EEOC\u2019s own regulations governing complaints filed by federal workers requiring the agency to handle complaints promptly.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The lawsuit said that during the seven months the case has been halted, Chelette, Boyd and other women \u201chave been subjected to, or are at risk of, ongoing and escalating sexual harassment that continues to go unremedied. They have no information about when, if ever, their case will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cManagement is just sort of emboldened and taking even less corrective action, sending the message to the inmates that you can sexually harass and abuse these female staff and get away with it because we\u2019re not going to do anything to do you,\u201d said Heidi Burakiewicz, an attorney for the plaintiffs and founding partner at Burakiewicz &amp; DePriest.<\/p>\n<p>While it remains unclear how many cases the EEOC has paused, the attorneys who filed the lawsuit said they are representing federal workers in at least five other class complaints that are stalled, including cases against the FBI and the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n<p>While the plaintiffs have the legal right to opt out of the EEOC process and bring their case to federal court, attorney said it would require them to essentially build their case anew, including securing class status from scratch in a process that could take years.<\/p>\n<p>_______ <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Associated Press\u2019 women in the workforce coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s\u00a0standards\u00a0for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at\u00a0AP.org.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4483\">Fauci\u2019s diary shows he thought Covid could be man-made. Now he\u2019s telling Congress it was \u2018molecularly impossible\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>_____<\/p>\n<p>AP Business Writer Claire Savage contributed to this story from Chicago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Attorneys say the undisclosed suspension has left correctional officers facing escalating abuse with no timeline for relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eeoc"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>EEOC has indefinitely suspended all federal-sector class complaints, lawsuit claims - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4489\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EEOC has indefinitely suspended all federal-sector class complaints, lawsuit claims - 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