The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission closed a controversial chapter of its history Friday when it formally withdrew a regulatory proposal that would have barred federal employees who are union officials from accessing official time to help their colleagues pursue discrimination complaints.
The saga dates back to 2019, when the EEOC, then under Republican control, first proposed the rule. For decades, the agency has guaranteed official time—time in which a worker is paid for something other than their official duties—to federal employees working on their own or their colleagues’ discrimination claims, a policy intended to help victims feel more comfortable and better navigate a complicated adjudication process.
