The strongest discrimination case in the world can end before anyone looks at the facts — because a federal employee missed a deadline nobody warned them about.

Southworth PC attorneys Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor walk the federal EEO complaint process from first contact to hearing — where cases are won, where they're lost, and where they quietly get abandoned. With return-to-office denials, reorganizations, and RIFs pushing more feds into this system than in years, the deadlines decide more cases than the facts do.

In this episode:

The Docket

• A federal court ordered the Justice Department to restore full-time telework as a disability accommodation for two immigration-court attorney advisors (EOIR) — a preliminary injunction out of a July 10 hearing in the Eastern District of Virginia, with a bid for class status underway. The point: a return-to-office order doesn't override the Rehabilitation Act. (As of our mid-July 2026 recording.)
• Disabled veterans at the VA say the department is clawing back telework they'd relied on for years — and treating some as AWOL — even though the RTO directive was supposed to exempt qualifying disabilities. Drawing on her HR background, Lydia explains why a blanket accommodation "review" that skips the individualized, interactive process is a legal red flag.

The Case File: The EEO Complaint, Start to Finish Picture the EEO process as a hallway of doors, each with a clock above it. This is the whole walk-through: the 45-day deadline to contact an EEO counselor (calendar days — the single most common way a strong case dies), the 15-day window to file your formal complaint, the agency's 180 days to investigate and produce the ROI, the choice between a hearing and letting the agency judge its own case, and your appeal routes at the Office of Federal Operations or in federal court. You'll know what to do on day one, how to frame your claims so the agency can't quietly narrow them, and what a late or thin investigation actually hands you.

Ask Shaun & Lydia Anything

• "I think my non-selection was because of my age. It happened about 40 days ago and I've been gathering proof. Do I have something now, or should I wait until my case is stronger?"
• "A member isn't sure she's being discriminated against, but she already has a grievance going. Can she do both?"
• "My agency's investigation has gone way past 180 days and I haven't heard anything. Is my case dead?"

Chapters: 00:00:00 — The 45-day trap (cold open) 00:06:42 — The Docket: DOJ telework order 00:12:48 — The Docket: VA vets & the commute 00:21:58 — The Case File: EEO, start to finish 00:23:43 — Step 1: the 45-day clock 00:27:52 — Formal complaint & framing claims 00:33:37 — Investigation & the ROI 00:38:43 — The hearing, discovery & no-hearing motions 00:42:25 — Appeals: OFO & federal court 00:47:38 — Ask Shaun & Lydia Anything

Have a question for the show? Email [email protected] or reach us through our social platforms. (We read everything; answering a question on air is general information and doesn't create an attorney-client relationship.)

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A quick note: This podcast is legal information, not legal advice. Listening does not make you a client. If something is happening to you at work, talk to a lawyer about your specific situation.

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