ML25220A020

Policy Guidance on the Use of Official Time in the Eeo Complaint Process 2025

ML25220A020
Person / Time
Issue date:	10/20/2025
From:	Moore L NRC/SBCR
To:
References
CR-0109
Download: ML25220A020 (1)

Text

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Small Business and Civil Rights SBCR OFFICE INSTRUCTION Office Instruction No.:

CR-0109 Office Instruction

Title:

Policy Guidance on the Use of Official Time in the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Complaint Process Effective Date:

October 20, 2025 Primary

Contact:

Larniece McKoy Moore (301) 415-0192 Larniece.mckoymoore@nrc.gov Training:

None ADAMS Accession No.:

ML22265A056 (Package)

SBCR CR-0109

1.

Policy Under Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §1614.605, all U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Agency) employees who use the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint process shall be entitled to a reasonable amount of official time to prepare the EEO complaint and respond to the Agency's and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)s request for information.

2.

Objective The objective of the Office of Small Business and Civil Rights (SBCR) is to identify and define the necessary steps that NRC employees shall follow to request the use of official time in the EEO complaint process.

3.

Basic Requirements Employees who file EEO complaints are entitled to a reasonable amount of official time to present their complaint and to respond to the Agency or EEOCs requests for information, if they are otherwise in duty status. In addition, the regulations provide that complainants are entitled to be accompanied, represented, and advised by a representative of their own choice at any stage in the process, and those representatives, if employees of the NRC, are also entitled to a reasonable amount of official time to present the complaint, and respond to requests for information from the NRC or EEOC, if otherwise on duty. See 29 CFR § 1614.605(b). Witnesses who are federal employees, regardless of whether they are employed by the NRC or some other federal agency, shall be in a duty status when their presence is authorized or required by EEOC or NRC officials in connection with an EEO complaint.

These requirements are specified below.

3.1 Reasonable Amount of Official Time The EEOC has defined "reasonable" as whatever is appropriate, under the particular circumstances of the complaint, in order to allow a complete presentation of the relevant information associated with the complaint and to respond to Agency or EEOC requests for information. The actual number of hours to which the employee and/or their representative are entitled will vary, depending on the nature and complexity of the complaint and considering the NRCs mission and its need to have employees available to perform their normal duties on a regular basis. The employee and the NRC (typically their NRC immediate supervisor) should arrive at a mutual understanding as to the amount of official time to be used prior to the complainants use of such time. Thus, NRC employees requesting official time must do so in advance by using the NRC Form 657, Request for Approval to Use Official Time for EEO Complaint Process and by providing supporting documentation. Time spent commuting to and from home may not be included in official time computations because all employees are required to commute to and from their duty station on their own time.

3.2 Meeting and Hearing Time

SBCR CR-0109 Time spent by complainants and their representatives (if any) in meetings and hearings with Agency officials or with EEOC Administrative Judges is automatically deemed reasonable. Both the employee and the representative are to be granted official time for the duration of such meetings or hearings and are in a duty status regardless of their tour of duty.

3.3 Preparation Time Since presentation of a complaint involves preparation for meetings and hearings, as well as attendance at such meetings and hearings, the employee and/or their representative are also afforded a reasonable amount of official time, as defined above, to prepare for meetings and hearings. They are also to be afforded a reasonable amount of official time to prepare the formal complaint and any appeals that may be filed with the EEOC, even though no meetings or hearings are involved. Consequently, reasonable, with respect to preparation time (as opposed to time spent in meetings and hearings), is generally defined in terms of hours..

What is reasonable depends on the individual circumstances of each complaint.

For example, it would be reasonable in most cases to grant one hour of official time for an employee to prepare a formal complaint. However, it would be unreasonable to grant a half-day (or more) to complete and file a formal complaint.

3.4 Aggregate Time Spent on EEO Matters The EEOC considers it reasonable for the NRC to expect its employees to spend most of their time doing the work for which they are employed. Therefore, NRC may legitimately restrict the overall hours of official time afforded to a complainant and/or representative, for both preparation purposes and for attendance at meetings and hearings, to a certain percentage of their duty hours in any given month, quarter, or year. Such overall restrictions would depend on the nature of the position occupied by the complainant and/or representative, the relationship of that position to the mission of the NRC, and the degree of hardship imposed on the mission of the NRC by their absence from normal duties. The amount of official time to be afforded to an employee for representational activities will vary with the circumstances.

Moreover, 29 CFR 1614.605(c) provides that in cases where the representation of a complainant or the NRC would conflict with the official or collateral duties of the representative, the NRC and/or EEOC may, after giving the representative an opportunity to respond, disqualify the representative. At all times, the complainant is responsible for proceeding with their EEO complaint, regardless of whether they have a designated representative. The amount of official time to be afforded to an employee for representational activities will vary with the circumstances and therefore should be determined on a case-by-case basis.

SBCR CR-0109 3.5 Requesting Official Time Employees, to include their representative, and their immediate supervisor should arrive at a mutual understanding as to the amount of official time to be used, prior to the use of such time being requested, and use the referenced NRC Form 657, Request for Approval to Use Official Time for EEO Complaint Process to provide an explanation of how the employee plans to spend the time requested (e.g., counseling, affidavit preparation, EEOC hearing, etc.). In addition, it is not unreasonable for the Agency to require some proof that the employee needs the official time to engage in EEO complaint activity and to justify the amount of preparation time requested where the request is for a substantial number of hours.

Any employee may contact SBCR for information at any time regarding their EEO complaint for guidance regarding this policy.

3.6 Anonymity During EEO Counseling Employees who wish to contact an EEO counselor and remain anonymous are not required to submit a request for official time. Any time utilized to meet with an EEO counselor while remaining anonymous would simply be reported as regular work hours. Once an employee files a formal EEO complaint, there is no longer any right to anonymity. Therefore, an employee who previously remained anonymous during EEO counseling may thereafter submit official time request forms and supporting documentation to their supervisor if or as necessary during the processing of their formal EEO complaint.

3.7 Issuing a Decision Regarding Official Time A supervisor should act expeditiously on any request for official time and provide a written explanation on the form for granting or denying (in part or in whole) an employees request. The supervisor shall provide remarks on the form in support of their decision and share with the employee and SBCRs Civil Rights Program Manager so that it can be included in the employees EEO complaint file.

3.8 Supervisor Inquiries Regarding Official Time To facilitate requests for official time, the employee shall include any appropriate documentation to support their request (e.g., a letter instructing the employee to meet with an investigator on a certain day, a letter from an attorney requesting the employee be present for a deposition on a certain day, etc.) along with a request for official time. As already noted in Section 3.5 above, any NRC employee may contact SBCR for information at any time regarding the employees EEO complaint and for guidance regarding this policy.

A supervisor may contact either the employee or SBCR to request documentation to support a request for official time. A supervisor shall not request any documentation other than that which is necessary to verify the employees need to request official time. However, the supervisor is entitled to a reasonable explanation (with supporting documentation, if available) of how the employee plans to spend the time requested (e.g., counseling, affidavit preparation, EEOC hearing, etc.)

SBCR CR-0109 Moreover, an employee may be required to justify the amount of preparation time requested when that request is for more than a few hours. Therefore, if asked, an employee shall provide a supervisor with appropriate documentation to verify that they are required to appear somewhere as part of the EEO complaint process and/or to establish that a meeting is forthcoming and they are requesting official time to prepare for such a meeting.

3.9 Work Expectations and Official Time Even if an employee is granted official time, they are expected to perform duties as required by their position and to meet the expectations set out in their performance plan. As noted in Section 3.1 above, any official time granted must also consider the agencys legitimate need to have employees perform the work for which they are employed.

Moreover, this policy regarding official time applies only to EEO complaints filed under the EEOC regulations contained in 29 CFR §1614. Accordingly, official time under this policy is not available for employees who are litigating other disputes (e.g., a grievance under a collective bargaining agreement) or who are pursuing EEO litigation outside the administrative process (e.g., state or federal court).

3.10 Reporting Official Time All official time granted under this policy shall be reported with the following CAC code in the HCM Cloud Time & Labor (HCMTL) system: ZG0117 - Official Time for EEO Activity.

3.11 Appealing a Denial of Official Time If the employee chooses to appeal a denial of official time (in part or in whole),

they must submit the above-referenced form to SBCR within 48 hours5.555556e-4 days <br />0.0133 hours <br />7.936508e-5 weeks <br />1.8264e-5 months <br /> of receipt of the denial. The employee may submit a short statement along with the original form providing any explanation as to why they believe that official time (or an additional amount of official time) should have been granted by their immediate supervisor.

The Director of SBCR, or their designee, will conduct an inquiry, gather relevant information, and issue a written explanation to the employee and their supervisor as to whether the determination granting or denying official time was justified by the manager and/or supervisor. The employees time may be corrected to reflect the substitution of official time for personal time in situations where the determination to deny the request is not properly justified. The determination by the Director of SBCR, or their designee, will then be included as part of the employees EEO file. This file is maintained by SBCR and is related to the underlying processing of the merits of the EEO complaint of discrimination.

At the conclusion of the investigation on the merits of the EEO complaint, the employee will have the right to elect either a hearing before the EEOC or a Final Agency Decision (FAD) from SBCR. If an employee requests a FAD, then the determination by the Director of SBCR, or their designee, will become a part of the Agency FAD and the employees EEO complaint file once it is issued by the NRC. The complainant may appeal a FAD to the EEOC to include a decision

SBCR CR-0109 regarding a denial, in whole or in part, of official time.

If an employee requests a hearing, they would be able to raise an allegation to the AJ that they were either previously denied official time (during EEO counseling, Alternative Dispute Resolution, or the investigative process), or were denied official time while processing the EEO complaint before an EEOC AJ.

The AJ has the authority to review the determination by SBCR and to correct the employees time to reflect the substitution of official time for personal time on their time records.

3.12 Distinguishing EEO Complaint Process from Official Time Requests The formal EEO complaint process does not apply to the granting or denial of official time. Thus, a pending EEO complaint should not be amended by either SBCR or an EEOC AJ to add a claim of discrimination, harassment or reprisal alleging a denial of official time. Instead, and as described above, the Director of SBCR, or their designee, and/or an EEOC AJ) will review whether or not the denial of official time was justified (if requested by the employee) and will issue a written explanation (or Order). Any such determination will become a part of the employees EEO complaint file in the event the employee requests further review of a determination regarding official time.

3.13 Remedies When Official Time is Improperly Denied (in Part or in Whole)

As noted above, if either SBCR or the EEOC determines that the employee was improperly denied official time, in part or in whole, the Agency may be ordered to restore such personal time the employee used in lieu of official time. Employees are not entitled to compensatory damages or other relief since a denial of official time is not processed like a claim of discrimination under the regulations found at 29 CFR §1614.605.

3.14 Duty Status/Tour of Duty For purposes of these regulations, official duty status means the employees and/or their representatives normal hours of work. It is expected that the NRC will, to the extent practical, schedule meetings during the employee's normal working hours and that NRC officials shall provide official time for the employee and/or their representative to attend such meetings and hearings.

If meetings, conferences, and hearings are scheduled outside of the employees or the representatives normal work hours, the NRC should adjust or rearrange the employee's and/or representatives work schedule to coincide with such meetings or hearings. Where it is not possible to adjust or rearrange the employees or representatives work schedule to coordinate with such meetings or hearings, overtime, compensatory time, or credit hours may be provided, as appropriate.

The selection of the appropriate method for making the employee and/or representative available in any individual circumstance shall be within the discretion of the NRC.

3.15 Official Time for Witnesses Witnesses who are federal employees, regardless of their tour of duty or whether

SBCR CR-0109 they are employed by the NRC or another federal agency, must be in an official duty status when their presence is authorized or required by an NRC and/or EEOC official in connection with a complaint. In such cases, a witness should typically be granted official time in order to permit a witness to attend such a meeting.

All federal employees are required to cooperate in the EEO process and produce such documentary and testimonial evidence as deemed necessary by the Agency or the EEOC. Therefore, witnesses should treat preparation of affidavits or other participation in the EEO process as an assignment of work.

3.16 Use of Government Property The use of government property (e.g., copiers, telephones, facsimile machines, scanners, computers, etc.) by an employee and/or their representative must be authorized by a supervisor, it must be reasonable and consistent with other NRC guidance that addresses personal use of government property, and it must not cause undue disruption of NRC operations. Employees are not required to complete a request for official time form if the usage of government equipment during working hours is brief. Sending an occasional e-mail or facsimile or brief usage of a telephone or photocopier during working hours would generally be considered reasonable if such use was approved by a supervisor. By contrast, using an NRC copier to photocopy the entire contents of a Report of Investigation, or making several phone calls during working hours without approval from a supervisor, would likely be deemed unreasonable. Any usage of government equipment while an employee is in a non-duty status does not require approval of a supervisor, but it must still be reasonable and consistent with other NRC guidance that addresses personal use of government property, and it must not cause undue disruption of NRC operations.

4.

Distribution This policy and NRC Form 657, Request for Approval to Use Official Time for EEO Complaint Process" have been distributed via Yellow Announcement and can be found on the SBCR website site under Services, Resources, and Policies - Civil Rights Program. NRC Form 657 can also be found in NRC Forms Library and ADAMS, ML22145A429.

5.

References and Links 29 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) § 1614.605 EEOC Management Directive (MD) 110, Chapter 6,Section VII - Witness and Representatives in the Federal EEO Process, Part C - Official Time.

Yellow Announcement: Procedures for Requesting Official Time During the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Complaint Process (ML22286A039)

NRC Request for Approval to use Official Time for EEO Complaint Process (ML22145A429)

SBCR CR-0109

SUBJECT:

Policy Guidance on the Use of Official Time in the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Complaint Process DISTRIBUTION: SBCR Chron File, SBCR Subject File DOCUMENT NAME: G:\\Civil Rights Program\\Official Time

• via email OFFICIAL RECORD COPY OFFICE SCRS CRPM OGC DD/SBCR D/SBCR N

NAME MNeubauer LMM TBD JStorch VOrdaz DATE 06/05/2025 06/06/2025 N/A (Leave)