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Office of Employee Appeals seeks power to mediate grievances, requests e‑filing funds
Summary
Sheila Barfield, OEA executive director, told the committee OEA exceeded FY25 targets and proposed legislation giving OEA jurisdiction over grievances and a mandate for mediation; she also requested about $253,000 for an electronic filing upgrade.
Sheila Barfield, executive director of the Office of Employee Appeals (OEA), told the committee OEA exceeded its FY25 targets by issuing 95 initial decisions (versus a target of 80) and 22 opinions on petitions for review. She said courts upheld the majority of OEA decisions and reported a roughly 93% success rate on appeal in FY25.
Barfield proposed that the committee consider legislation to grant OEA jurisdiction over grievances and require mediation, saying, "I believe this new legislation would fit nicely in the D.C. Code as a new Section one‑606.03." She emphasized that OEA's judges and staff are certified mediators and argued that mandatory grievance mediation could provide tailored, creative resolutions that judges alone cannot craft.
OEA also requested an IT upgrade for full electronic filing and cited a budget enhancement request of approximately $253,000 for FY26 that was not approved; Barfield said full e‑filing would speed case handling and reduce paper processing. OEA said it plans to hire another administrative judge in FY26 and later a paralegal specialist to support increased mediation capacity.
Committee members asked about likely caseloads, reversals, and the agency's enforcement tools for compliance. OEA staff explained compliance procedures for back pay and reinstatement orders and said repeated reversals in a subset of cases involved disputes about which edition of the District Personnel Manual should apply; OEA said it will adjust practice to reduce remands and reversals.
