Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication
The Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication (OEDCA) was statutorily established in 1998 by Section 102(a)(1) of the Veterans’ Benefits Act of 1997, P.L. 105-114, (38 U.S.C. § 319). The statute mandates that OEDCA function as the Department of Veterans Affairs sole independent adjudicatory authority to issue Final Agency Decisions and Final Orders adjudicating the merits of employment discrimination complaints filed against the Department by current and former employees and non-agency applicants for employment. OEDCA is located within the Office of the Secretary and currently reports directly to the Deputy Secretary. OEDCA is mandated by statute to report findings of discrimination adjudicated by OEDCA to the Deputy Secretary or Secretary of the Department for action. For more information on OEDCA, please read our overview document.
Message From the Director:
To fulfill its mission to issue high quality EEO Final Agency Decisions and Final Orders, OEDCA is fully committed to insure fairness, integrity, and trust throughout the complaint adjudication phase of the EEO complaint process. To this end, OEDCA maintains a highly skilled staff of attorneys and administrative personnel. OEDCA proudly serves those who care for our nation’s Veterans.
OEDCA operates without interference or influence by any Department official, the Office of Resolution Management, Diversity, and Inclusion, or the Office of General Counsel. Complainants may appeal an OEDCA Final Agency Decision or Order to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Office of Federal Operations or file a civil action in an appropriate United States District Court. Complainants that allege a matter that is appealable to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) may appeal an OEDCA Final Agency Decision to the MSPB. The Department has no right to appeal a final determination issued by OEDCA.
Inherent in its role to remedy the discrimination found in its decisions, OEDCA also sees prevention of discrimination as part of its mission. OEDCA is called upon by VA Executive Leadership to provide practical-based training to educate managers to recognize and avoid acts of discrimination. OEDCA presented such training in the Department’s Spring 2024 Sexual Harassment Standdown.
To expand upon the prevention aspect of its mission, OEDCA is re-imagining its website and re-introducing the OEDCA Employment Law Digest as a major feature. The Digest in this inaugural issue discusses recent OEDCA decisions finding discrimination in a “Bottom Line” format. It covers issues including denial of reasonable accommodation, reprisal, and harassment. Managers may wish to pay special attention to the case where a per se reprisal violation was found. While OEDCA is prohibited from providing legal advice, and no content in this website should be interpreted as such, we hope all readers will find the Digest format instructive from a practical perspective.
Please check back here for more updates, as we will be publishing new editions of the Digest and introducing other informational features each quarter.
-Mary Lynne Popiden
OEDCA Employment Law Digest
- Summer 2024 (PDF, 7pages)
Did You Know?
- OEDCA FADs and Final Orders issued in FY2024 – 1,856
- Findings of Discrimination Issued in FY2024 – 91
- Top Three Bases for Findings in FY2024 – Reprisal (37%), Disability (35%), Sex (20%)
