Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C.—After needlessly generating two months of confusion and anxiety among federal employees about their rights, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) finally has moved to accept the long-standing government view that discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited in the federal workplace.

“This step was made necessary only by the mistaken and unfortunate retreat by OSC from its clear obligation and jurisdiction to accept and act on complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

“This blatant disregard not only of established interpretation of the law, but also of previous OSC policy and procedure, generated confusion and anxiety in the federal workplace for no good reason,” she added.

NTEU was the first to raise the issue in mid-February by demanding to know from Special Counsel Scott Bloch why he had removed all references on OSC’s web site and other materials to its jurisdiction to enforce complaints of sexual orientation discrimination.

Once NTEU brought this matter to light, a large group of congressional members—and the White House—noted that longstanding federal policy prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

When it removed the materials designed to inform federal employees of their rights in the face of claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation, OSC said it was doing so pending a legal analysis of its role in handling such claims.

In a further, and failed, attempt to explain his reasoning, Special Counsel Bloch claimed that there was some question about his authority to enforce protections against discrimination based on status as a gay employee, in the absence of conduct. This distinction between conduct and status was “utterly absurd,” President Kelley informed Bloch in a letter.

In a statement saying he was reinstating the anti-discrimination policy, Bloch said it is the policy of this administration that discrimination in the federal workforce on the basis of sexual orientation is prohibited.

Notwithstanding this belated recognition of administration policy, President Kelley said that NTEU would be watching carefully to make sure that OSC posts informative material on its web site and aggressively enforces the protections against discrimination.

OSC, which was created in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, has a variety of duties that directly impact the rights of federal workers, including enforcement of the Hatch Act governing political activity by federal employees, the protection of whistleblowers and the investigation and prosecution of claims of discrimination against employees and job applicants.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 29 agencies and departments.