# EEO Investigations Course Canonical URL: ## Overview Federal agencies must give every new EEO investigator at least 32 hours of training before that person conducts an investigation. This course meets that requirement. Learn to develop an impartial and appropriate factual record under 29 C.F.R. Part 1614: planning the investigation, gathering and weighing evidence, interviewing witnesses under oath, making defensible credibility determinations, and assembling a complaint file and investigative summary a decision-maker can rely on. You work a single case from intake to finished file. ## What you'll learn - Trace a complaint through the 29 C.F.R. Part 1614 process and identify the controlling time frame at each stage - Explain the investigator's role as a neutral fact finder who develops a record rather than reaching a finding - Apply the authority granted by 29 C.F.R. 1614.108(c), including administering oaths and compelling production from federal employees - Determine which statutes and theories of discrimination govern a set of allegations, and frame claims without fragmenting them - Build an investigative plan that develops both sides of every issue inside the 180-day deadline - Judge evidence against the material, relevant, and reliable standard rather than courtroom admissibility - Conduct sworn witness interviews and take affidavits that hold up on review - Make credibility determinations anchored in corroboration, consistency, and plausibility - Assemble a complaint file and write an investigative summary that cites the record ## Curriculum #### Module 1: The 1614 Process and Its Time Frames - Trace a complaint from first EEO contact through final agency action and appeal - Identify the controlling time frame at each stage of the process - Explain when an EEO Counselor is barred from investigating a complaint - Describe what arrives on your desk when a complaint reaches investigation #### Module 2: The Investigator's Role, Authority, and Independence - Explain why the investigator develops a record rather than reaching a finding - Apply the authority granted by 29 C.F.R. 1614.108(c), including administering oaths - Identify conflicts of interest and appearance problems that disqualify you from an assignment - Select the appropriate response when a party or witness will not cooperate #### Module 3: The Governing Statutes - Identify the protected bases created by each governing statute - Determine which statute or statutes govern a given set of allegations - Explain coverage differences that change how an investigation is scoped #### Module 4: Theories of Discrimination and Fragmentation - Distinguish disparate treatment, adverse impact, and reasonable accommodation - State what each theory requires the factual record to contain - Recognize fragmentation and separate the claim from the evidence supporting it - Convert a framed claim into an evidence plan #### Module 5: Planning the Investigation and Case Management - Convert accepted claims into an investigative plan with named evidence targets - Choose among the fact-finding methods the regulation permits, and match them to claims - Sequence an investigation to close inside 180 days - Recognize when to seek an extension and how to document delay #### Module 6: Evidence That Supports a Finding - Apply the material, relevant, and reliable standard to candidate evidence - Distinguish the administrative evidence standard from courtroom admissibility - Identify the types and sources of evidence available in a federal EEO investigation - Request, scope, and preserve documentary and electronic evidence defensibly #### Module 7: Interviewing Witnesses and Taking Affidavits - Plan and conduct an interview that develops both sides of an issue - Select question types that produce usable testimony rather than conclusions - Administer an oath and take a compliant affidavit - Manage witness logistics, including official time, duty status, and representation #### Module 8: Credibility Determinations - Apply the Commission's credibility factors to conflicting testimony - Explain why no single factor is determinative - Document a credibility observation without reaching a conclusion - Distinguish a credibility observation from a finding of discrimination #### Module 9: Remedies and the Evidence That Supports Them - Identify the categories of relief available in a federal sector EEO case - Explain what a compensatory damages claim requires the record to contain - Develop evidence on attorney's fees and costs while the investigation is open - Recognize remedy evidence that cannot be reconstructed after the record closes #### Module 10: The Complaint File and the Investigative Summary - Assemble a complaint file that meets the Chapter 6 requirements - Apply the redaction rules, including what must not be redacted - Write an investigative summary that delineates the evidence on both sides of each issue - Cite evidence and exhibits so a decision-maker can follow the record #### Module 11: Capstone: Case File Assembly - Assemble a complete complaint file from a week's investigative work - Assess a record against the impartial and appropriate standard - Identify the gaps a decision-maker would send back #### Module 12: Assessment and Close - Demonstrate the knowledge required by the six subject areas the directive names - State the continuing training obligation that applies from here ## Pricing **Tuition:** $1549