NASA NPR 3713.4

Abstract

<strong>PURPOSE</strong> <br>a. Pursuant to Executive Order 13087 and NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 3713.2, Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Programs of NASA, discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited in the NASA workplace and the Agency's employment practices, to the extent permitted by law. <br>b. These procedures provide an internal Agency administrative process for the adjudication of complaints by NASA employees or applicants for employment who allege sexual orientation discrimination (see Appendix A for the definition of this term). This complaint process also provides an avenue of redress for claims of reprisal for participating in this process or opposing sexual orientation discrimination. <br>c. These internal complaint procedures provide an alternative forum for redress in addition to the union grievance process and the NASA Administrative Grievance System, NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) 3771.1, which as of the issuance of this NPR does not exclude grievances based on sexual orientation. When an employee is covered by a collective bargaining agreement that does not preclude claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation to be raised in the negotiated grievance procedure, an employee wishing to file a complaint shall raise the matter either under these procedures or the negotiated grievance procedure, but not both. <br>d. These procedures also provide an alternative forum to filing a complaint of discrimination based on sexual orientation with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) or to filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), if the action complained of is otherwise appealable to the MSPB. If, however, a complainant initially files with the OSC or MSPB, and the OSC or MSPB decides it does not have jurisdiction to investigate the complaint containing the claim of sexual orientation discrimination, the complainant shall be entitled to pursue the claim pursuant to these procedures if the complaint is filed within 15 days of receipt of notice that the OSC or MSPB will not address (see Section 2.5). <br>e. These procedures do not affect a complainant's right to base his or her claim on an EEO-protected basis, that is, a basis protected under Federal antidiscrimination law, or to include an EEO-protected basis in his or her claim(s) in addition to the bases covered under these procedures. It is important to note that, while an individual may bring a discrimination complaint based on sexual orientation, that individual may also be alleging gender stereotyping or same sex harassment, both of which are covered as forms of gender discrimination under the EEO complaints process. (See also Appendix C. Implementation Guide.) <br>f. If complainant reports harassment based on sexual orientation to a supervisor or other management official in his or her office or to the Center Anti-Harassment Coordinator, <br><strong>APPLICABILITY</strong> <br>a. This directive is applicable to NASA Headquarters and NASA Centers, including Component Facilities and Technical and Service Support Centers. This directive applies to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other contractors only to the extent specified or referenced in the appropriate contracts. <br>b. In this directive, all mandatory actions (i.e., requirements) are denoted by statements containing the term "shall." The terms: "may" or "can" denote discretionary privilege or permission, "should" denotes a good practice and is recommended, but not required, "will" denotes expected outcome, and "are/is" denotes descriptive material. <br>c. In this directive, all document citations are assumed to be the latest version unless otherwise noted.