Default Judgment Against Agency

You may file a motion to EEOC Administrative Judge (AJ) to issue a default judgment against the agency for failure to produce ROI, if the ROI has not been issued more than 15 days of your requesting a hearing and if AJ is assigned to your case.  (Nowadays, AJ is not assigned to your case 3 to 6 months or more after your requesting EEOC hearing.

EEOC Regulation 29 C.F.R. § 1614.106(e)(2), § 1614.108(e) and (f) require the agency to complete an investigation of a formal EEO complaint within 180 days of the filing of the complaint (unless the parties agree in writing to extend the period for not more than an additional 90 days); or within 180 days of the filing of an amended complaint or 360 days of the filing of the initial complaint, whichever is earlier; and to provide Complainant a copy of the investigative file.  

§ 1614.108(h), furthermore, requires the agency to provide a copy of the complaint file to EEOC and, if not previously provided, to the complainant within 15 days of receipt of the complainant’s request for a hearing.

A default judgment is warranted when the agency failed to produce the investigation file. SeeReading v. VA, EEOC Appeal No. 07A40125 (Oct. 12, 2006) (upholding the Administrative Judge's interim decision of default judgment in favor of Complainant). Germain v. EPA, EEO Appeal No. 07A10048 (Dec. 23, 2002) (upholding administrative judge's sanction of default judgment for failure to timely file complaint file).