AFGE and Federal Employees Sue EEOC to Reverse Freeze of Federal-Sector Class Claims

Complaint reveals undisclosed agency-wide stay that denies employees’ statutory rights to thousands of federal workers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the American Federation of Government Employees and two federal employees filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission challenging its suspension of processing federal-sector class complaints pending before its administrative judges. Despite regulations requiring the Commission to handle these matters promptly, the EEOC has unlawfully directed administrative judges to halt all proceedings, preventing hearings and decisions on properly filed complaints. 

According to the filing, the EEOC issued an agencywide order to stay all federal-sector class case processing. A notification issued in one of the pending cases explicitly states: “Effective immediately, all case processing in the above-captioned matter must be paused until further notice. All scheduled deadlines and appearances are also cancelled. This notification applies to all class cases in the federal sector, including those alleging disparate impact.”

Democracy Defenders Fund; Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll LLP; Burkiewicz & DePriest, PLLC; and AFGE filed this case on behalf of AFGE members in addition to individual federal employees, Deanna Chelette and Alexzandria Boyd, both of whom serve as correctional officers at the Federal Correctional Complex (“FCC”) in Pollock, Louisiana. Chelette is one of several women who filed a certified class complaint against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, alleging severe and ongoing sexual harassment against female employees at FCC Pollock. Boyd currently works at FCC Pollock and falls within the class definition. 

The EEOC’s directive indefinitely blocks Boyd and Chelette’s pursuit of justice. This procedural blockade effectively denies these federal employees their fundamental rights, leaving them without legal recourse and perpetuating an environment where workplace harassment can continue unchecked. 

“The EEOC’s decision to suspend federal-sector class complaints undermines the fundamental right of employees to seek justice,” said Taryn Wilgus Null, senior counsel at Democracy Defenders Fund. “By failing to process these cases, the Commission is abandoning workers and disregarding its mandate to uphold the rule of law. We are bringing this lawsuit to ensure the EEOC fulfills its duty and restores the accountability process for all federal employees.”

“Justice delayed is justice denied, and the EEOC’s refusal to act on these class-action complaints is causing direct harm and personal injury to our members,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said. “The EEOC has a legal responsibility and obligation to keep our federal workplaces free from discrimination and retaliation, and the agency’s refusal to process these cases is a clear abandonment of its mission.” 

“It is well established that, whether in a federal prison or elsewhere, women do not need to endure sexual harassment in the workplace. Rather than take common sense steps to prevent the inmates’ vulgar and egregious sexual harassment of female staff, however, FCC Pollock has turned a blind eye to it,” said Heidi Burakiewicz, founding partner at Burakiewicz & DePriest. “By refusing to process class claims, the EEOC has abandoned the women and prevented them from obtaining implementation of steps to stop the ongoing sexual harassment.”  

“The EEOC’s suspension of class discrimination claims brought by federal employees is an abdication of its obligation, required by law, to adjudicate these claims expeditiously. This unannounced and unexplained suspension of these important class discrimination cases is the latest chapter in the EEOC’s retreat from enforcing the civil rights laws mandated by Congress,” said Joseph Sellers, founder and co-chair of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll’s civil rights and employment practice. “Federal employees are entitled to have their class discrimination claims processed promptly, not delayed indefinitely.”

AFGE is the largest union of federal workers, representing more than 820,000 federal civilian employees, including those who have filed or intend to file class complaints with the EEOC and those whose rights are affected by pending EEOC class cases. The EEOC’s suspension directive harms AFGE and its members by impairing AFGE’s efforts to counsel and represent those members in EEOC proceedings. 

Background

At some point before December 10, 2025, EEOC leadership instructed administrative judges to stop all proceedings for federal-sector class complaints, preventing administrative judges from moving forward with hearings, discovery or decisions. This procedural blockade has indefinitely suspended cases across the federal government, effectively denying employees access to the administrative justice system. 

This suspension directly impacts individual complainants like Deanna Chelette, who is a class agent in a certified class complaint alleging systemic sexual harassment at FCC Pollock. It also impacts individuals like Alexzandria Boyd, a corrections officer at FCC Pollock, whose rights are currently tied up in this class litigation, preventing her from obtaining justice.

The EEOC was established by Congress under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect workers from discrimination, investigate job complaints and lead federal civil rights enforcement in the workplace. Since assuming her role as acting chair and then chair of the EEOC, starting in January 2025, Andrea Lucas has shifted enforcement away from systemic discrimination by deprioritizing disparate-impact cases; redirected resources toward investigating employer-related DEI programs, asserting that many race- and sex-conscious workplace initiatives may violate Title VII, and issuing guidance encouraging complaints against such programs; proposed eliminating the EEO-1 workforce demographic reporting requirement; and dropped or abandoned cases involving marginalized groups like transgender workers.

Read the filing here. 

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Democracy Defenders Fund brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy. 

The American Federation of Government Employees is the largest federal employee union, representing more than 820,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia. 

Burakiewicz & DePriest, PLLC is a boutique law firm focusing on plaintiff-side labor and employment litigation on behalf of unions and employees. 

Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll LLP, a premier U.S. plaintiffs’ law firm, with over 100 attorneys across eight offices, champions the causes of real people—workers, consumers, small business owners, investors, and whistleblowers—working to deliver corporate reforms and fair markets for the common good.