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Sexual Orientation Discrimination Complaint Process

Executive Order (EO) 13087, issued on May 28, 1998, amended EO 11478, Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal Government, to include sexual orientation as a prohibited basis of discrimination in Federal employment.  Consistent with this EO, Department Administrative Order (DAO) 215-11, Complaint Process for Sexual Orientation Discrimination, was established in 1999 to provide Department of Commerce employees and applicants for employment with a Department-wide and uniform complaint process by which to seek redress for claims of sexual orientation discrimination. 

At the time of DAO 215-11 was established and many years thereafter, Department employees and applicants’ were unable to pursue sexual orientation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and thus could not utilize the process afforded to Federal employees and applicants outlined in Title 29, Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) Part 1614.  However, the Supreme Court, in Bostock v. Clayton County, 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020), interpreted the prohibition against sex-based discrimination contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, to include sexual orientation discrimination in Federal employment.  As such, Department employees and applicants are now able to pursue sexual orientation discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and may utilize the process afforded to Federal employees and applicants outlined in 29 C.F.R. Part 1614, and on April 7, 2021, DAO 215-11 was revoked in order to streamline and enhance the efficiency of the process for raising claims of sexual orientation discrimination.

For more information about how to pursue a sexual orientation claim of discrimination, please go to the following link:

https://www.commerce.gov/cr/eeo-complaints-process