DOJ GEN hits membership milestone!

We hit 1,000 members! Thanks for helping us by spreading the word to your colleagues and friends, and please continue doing so. Hopefully when we grow to 2,000 members we’ll be able to celebrate in person.

If you or someone you know is a federal employee or contractor who supports DOJ GEN, click the link below to sign up for our newsletter and get involved in our ongoing advocacy efforts.

New project to improve gender equity and equality at U.S. Attorneys Offices.

Numerous DOJ GEN members have voiced concerns about gender-based harassment and disparities in pay, promotions, hiring and assignments at U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country.

DOJ GEN is taking action to address the situation with Department of Justice leadership. If you’re a federal employee who is aware of these problems at a USAO or you want to work on this project, please click the link below to send us an email and voice your interest!

DOJ GEN in the news!

• Press coverage of sexual harassment steering committee and DOJ GEN’s involvement: The new sexual harassment steering committeeand DOJ GEN’s role in its creation was covered by Buzzfeed and the San Francisco Chronicle.

• Press coverage of DOJ GEN’s pay equity letter to OPM: The letter DOJ GEN sent to OPM last week recommending steps it should take to move the federal government closer to pay equity was covered by Government Executive and the National Law Journal.

DOJ takes two important steps toward diversity, equity and inclusion.

• DOJ reestablished the Diversity Management Advisory Council that had been disbanded under the Trump Administration.

• DOJ created a permanent Chief Diversity Officer position. You can find the USAJobs ad for the Chief Diversity Officer job here. Unfortunately, applicants are required to submit their salary history—something DOJ GEN has repeatedly urged the federal government to stop doing because using salary history during the hiring process disproportionately harms women and people of color.

These are exciting developments that are in line with what many DOJ affinity groups, including DOJ GEN, requested in a letter we sent to the Biden Administration’s transition team in January.

Comprehensive paid family leave bill advances in Congress.

The Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act (CPLFEA), which would guarantee that all federal employees have 12 weeks of paid leave every year to care for a sick spouse, child or parent, or ourselves, made it out of the House Oversight and Reform Committee on July 20.

The Committee also adopted an amendment specifying that the new leave would include pregnancy loss, failed adoptions, and births by feds that are part of a surrogacy arrangement. DOJ GEN will soon begin our lobbying campaign to get this bill passed. Look for more updates in the months to come!

Encouraging new OPM telework guidance.

OPM released more guidance for agencies devising post-pandemic telework policies, stating “many more federal employees will be eligible to telework on a regular basis post-reentry.”

The guidance urges agencies to reevaluate dependent-care and telework restrictions imposed based on managerial preferences, and calls on agencies to allow for more remote work and not penalize employees who take advantage of flexibilities.

We are encouraged by this new guidance, which is consistent with much of what DOJ GEN recommended in our letters to JMD and 17 DOJ components.

Disturbing OIG report on FBI using photos of young female employees in sex worker sting.

The Office of the Inspector General issued a report documenting instances in which FBI agents convinced female support staffers to pose in photographs as minor children or sex workers to “entice sexual predators,” putting these federal employees, according to OIG, “in danger of becoming the victims of criminal offenses.”

The support staffers weren’t certified to participate in the operations, didn’t provide written consent, and were told not to inform anyone, including their supervisors, about their involvement.

The FBI committed to issuing policy reforms to remedy this disturbing finding.