Right to a Court-Appointed Attorney If you elect to file a civil action under ADEA, Title VII, or the Rehabilitation Act, you may appeal to the U.S. District Court for appointment of an attorney to represent you in the court proceeding. The court may appoint an attorney to represent you and may permit commencement of the civil action without payment of fees, costs, or security. Privacy Act Notice General This information is provided pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 for persons supplying information for inclusion in a system of records. Authority The authority to collect the information requested by the EEO counselor is derived from: 42 USC 2000e; 29 USC 633a; PL 95-602, as amended; 5 USC 1303 and 1304; 5 CFR 5.2 and 5.3; 29 CFR 1613.213; and Executive Order 11478, as amended. Purpose and Uses The information supplied will be used to resolve the EEO matter(s) you have raised during counseling. This information may be discussed with designated officers and employees of the Department to resolve the matters you have raised. If you file an EEO complaint, the complaint form, the counseling report form and all enclosures will be made a part of your EEO complaint file and will be available to any person who has a need to know its contents. Formal complaints are neither anonymous nor confidential. Whether or not you file a formal EEO complaint, this form and enclosures, if any, may be used in a depersonalized manner as a data base for program analysis, review, evaluation, and statistics. If you have not requested anonymity and there is a need to disclose information from your EEO Counseling Report for reasons other than those which have been cited or for reasons cited in the Privacy Act (5 USC 522a (b)), your prior consent will be solicited. Effect of Non-disclosure Disclosure of the information sought is voluntary. However, since informal precomplaint EEO counseling is mandatory, failure to disclose information may result in rejection of the formal EEO complaint in whole or in part. Rights of Persons Named as Alleged Discriminating Officials (FPM Letter 713-42) Complainants who believe particular persons have discriminated against them may identify those persons in their complaints. Even if the complainant does not identify particular persons, this aspect will be explored by the investigator in those complaints which are accepted for processing. The complaint procedure is not intended to indict or try individual officials; complaints are lodged "against" agencies, not "against" individuals. Nevertheless, agencies may properly decide to take disciplinary action against officials who are shown by the evidence compiled in connection with a discrimination complaint to have in fact been culpable of discrimination or other improper actions. Grievance or appeal channels are available to officials who wish to contest such action. There are many cases, however, in which disciplinary action is determined to be unwarranted because the evidence does not support the allegations made against individuals, or in which the evidence clearly establishes that a person alleged to have discriminated against a complainant has in fact not been culpable. In fairness to all persons involved in the processing of discrimination complaints, and to assure that the evidence compiled at various stages in the complaint process is complete in terms of presenting all relevant views on contentious matters, agencies should assure that persons named as "alleged discriminating officials" are adequately informed of any charges made against them, and are afforded a full and fair opportunity to respond to such charges. Counseling When, at the informal counseling stage, an aggrieved employee or applicant has named a person as being responsible for an alleged act of discrimination, the EEO counselor must solicit the views of that ADO unless the counselor otherwise obtains and provides information which exonerates the official to the clear satisfaction of the aggrieved person. Prior to the counselor's interview with the official, the latter must be advised that he or she has been named by a potential complainant, informed of the nature of any accusations, and advised of the right to have a representative present during the interview to provide advice on how to respond to any questions the counselor may ask. Investigation An ADO, whether identified at the time a formal complaint is filed or during the investigation, must be given an opportunity to respond to any and all allegations made against him or her. For this purpose, the investigator should meet with the ADO as often as may be necessary and pertinent documents (i.e., those in which the official is identified and charged with discrimination or other wrongdoing) intended for inclusion in the investigative file, must be made available for the official's review. Those documents include the EEO Counseling Report, the complaint, the complainant's affidavit, and other affidavits in which the ADO is named. Names of and identifying information about persons other than the complainant and the ADO should be deleted from copies of the documents shown to the ADO to protect such persons from unwarranted invasion of privacy. The ADO must be given full opportunity to state the facts as he or she sees them, in affidavit form, for inclusion in the investigative file. The ADO should also be allowed to suggest witnesses who might be contacted for corroborating testimony, but should be informed (as should complainants under similar circumstances) that only witnesses whose testimony is considered necessary to the investigation will be interviewed. Only relevant and pertinent testimony will be obtained in affidavit form and included in the investigative file. The EEO Officer should keep an ADO informed of the progress of the investigation in approximately the same manner as the complainant. Informal Adjustment and Proposed Disposition The agency official responsible for attempting informal resolution of a complaint may, at his or her discretion, consult with the ADO regarding the terms under which the agency will endeavor to resolve the complaint informally. If an informal adjustment is agreed upon, the agency must inform the ADO of the terms of the agreement. If no agreement is reached, a copy of the agency's proposed disposition of the complaint must be provided to the ADO. Hearing The ADO would normally be expected to have personal knowledge of the facts bearing on the complaint, and his or her testimony at a hearing, if one is conducted, would ordinarily be considered necessary by the parties to the complaint. However, if the ADO is not called to testify by either the complaint or the agency, the complaints examiner assigned to conduct the hearing must assure that the ADO is informed of the hearing and given an opportunity to testify if he or she wishes to do so. The examiner must make sure that the ADO has an opportunity to comment for the record on any new allegations of wrongdoing on the official's part which are brought by other witnesses during the hearing. The ADO has the right to have a representative present to provide advice at any time the official is asked for testimony during the complaint process, including the investigative and hearing stages. However, the representative's role at a hearing is limited to advising the ADO on how to respond to questions. The presence of the ADO and his or her representative at a hearing is limited to the time the official appears as a witness. The representative does not have the right to examine or cross-examine witnesses. Only the complaints examiner and the representatives of the complainant and the agency may do so. Final Decision The agency must provide the ADO a copy of its final decision on the complaint. The ADO's access to the entire complaint file depends on the following decisions. • If the clear effect of the agency decision is to deny or reject the complainant's allegations against the ADO, the latter should not be given access to the entire complaint file. • If the agency decision, either directly through a finding of discrimination or indirectly through a finding of error, concludes or implies impropriety on the part of the ADO, the entire complaint file, in which names and identifying information are deleted as appropriate, must be made available for his or her review. • If the agency takes or proposes adverse action or other disciplinary action against the ADO based on |