The federal agency that investigates workplace discrimination complaints has a new leader for its Dallas district office.
Travis Nicholson’s appointment comes after complaints surfaced last year about discrimination within the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Dallas office. Asked whether he was brought in to foster a healthier work environment, Nicholson said, “I wouldn’t say so.
“I would say that I hope throughout my career, that I’ve built a reputation of someone who can build trust, someone who collaborates with others well and someone who is a strong communicator,” said Nicholson, who most recently was the EEOC deputy district director in Houston. “And I hope that someone saw something in me to say, ‘This guy can make some things happen and get things done.’”
He’s taking on the new role a little over a year after the EEOC chairwoman ordered a review of the work climate in the Dallas district after USA Today last year uncovered complaints of internal discrimination.
At the time of the report, Belinda McCallister was director of the 100-employee district office and was accused of “facilitating harassment and discrimination,” according to USA Today. She’s now in a new role, Nicholson said.
The EEOC’s Dallas office investigates discrimination complaints from more than 200 counties in North, Central and West Texas. It handled around 4,500 complaints last year and obtained over $32 million in penalties for 1,550 people.
Nicholson, 51, grew up in Detroit before serving in the U.S. Army for 12 years straight out of high school.
“It was really interesting leaving because I was concerned about finding a job that gave me the same sense of purpose that I experienced being in the United States military,” he said.
He joined the EEOC in 2009 as a bilingual investigator in Detroit, then became outreach and education coordinator for the agency’s office in Charlotte, N.C., before heading to Houston in 2017.
Nicholson sat down with The Dallas Morning News to discuss the type of complaints he sees coming into the EEOC and how the agency works to address them. His answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Dallas office received 4,500 discrimination complaints last year. How does the region compare with the rest of the nation? What is the most common complaint?
Complaints are fairly consistent from one district to another. We have 15 districts and the Washington field office. Retaliation is always the No. 1 issue, and that’s stayed fairly consistent since around 2010.
What are the different outcomes that come out of filing a complaint?
Remedies take many, many different forms. If the evidence and facts support the charge, we may send it to a court. Or we may engage with the employer and ask for things like training, monetary relief and to look over their policies. Other types of relief may be owed if the charging party has not been hired or wasn’t promoted or was discharged. They may be owed back pay. Often, the employer makes a decision whether or not to discharge someone from employment. If they keep someone on, it’s at their own risk. But they just have to be aware that if something else happens with that person, then you have increased potential for liability.
What complaints do you see related to race?
You still have instances of overt racial discrimination, things like nooses in the workplace or slurs being used. But those are maybe less common than someone saying someone of a different race was treated more favorably, such as being promoted. No one wants to be on record as saying or doing something that’s overtly racist. But it’s often in the practice of how the employer is operating that we see some systemic issues where there’s a denial of promotion, wages are paid differently or someone doesn’t get advancement opportunities.
What complaints do you see related to gender?
You’ll see comments, jokes, sharing of images and improper touching. One allegation that we’ve seen is, “You need to be at home and take care of your kids because you’re a woman.” A lot of times, the accused person will say, “I didn’t mean it that way.” Or there’s just a complete disregard because, they say, “I’m in charge, so I can say or behave how I want.” You’re also seeing some employers who don’t want women in certain types of jobs because they’re traditionally a man’s job. And then, of course, we are still seeing pay disparity issues between men and women, even when they’re given the same opportunities.
What about sexual orientation?
People try to characterize how a man or a woman should behave or act, or who they should fall in love with, who they should date and who they should keep company with.
Do you get complaints about pronoun usage?
It happens. Even more egregious and more distasteful is we’ve heard people allege they’ve been referred to as “it,” and that’s really harmful. I can’t even imagine someone referring to me as an object.
What about religious discrimination complaints?
What we see quite often are issues of accommodation. A person has made a request for some type of religious accommodation. For example, they may say, “I need this day of the week off to observe my sincerely held religious belief.” And the employer may not have taken any steps to address or respond to that particular request by the employee. You can have harassment with religion. Someone may not understand someone’s religious observance.
What is the most egregious case you’ve investigated?
I’ve seen issues where an employer basically breached someone’s confidentiality with respect to their disability in a very harmful way. And there was some real reluctance by the employer to accept what we were telling them of it being problematic.
How do you plan to address the complaints of internal discrimination that were publicized in USA Today?
What we want to do is have open conversations. What I’m doing is having this dialogue with everyone within the district office — group dialogue, individual dialogue — because I want to understand what the issues are that are important to them. How do we build this trust within the workplace? The EEOC should be a model employer. And part of doing that is to foster trust, respect and inclusiveness in the workplace because that increases job satisfaction.
What can employers do to help prevent discrimination complaints?
It’s easier to stay well than it is to get better if you incur an illness. And if you don’t get the education, if you don’t know, it’s really difficult to avoid some of these situations. An employer can call the EEOC, never tell the EEOC where they’re calling from and ask for advice. I had an employer call me once when I was in Charlotte who basically wanted to know if they could force an employee to speak English at all times in the workspace. And we had a conversation and I helped them out, and they appreciated it. So we strongly encourage employers to contact us and to do training. We really like to engage with employers outside of investigations.
