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The bill extends explicit anti-discrimination protections and external oversight to D.C. nonjudicial court and Public Defender Service employees, improving rights and accountability while risking slower complaint processing, higher OHR caseloads, and increased financial exposure for agencies and taxpayers.
Nonjudicial D.C. court employees and Public Defender Service (PDS) employees gain explicit coverage under the D.C. Human Rights Act and can file discrimination complaints through the Office of Human Rights, aligning their protections with other covered workers.
D.C. courts' and PDS employment complaints are moved into the standard Human Rights Act process, increasing external oversight, consistency, and accountability for how discrimination claims are handled.
Employees filing complaints against D.C. courts or PDS may face longer processing times because the agencies' internal procedures are replaced by the Human Rights Act process.
All complainants handled by the D.C. Office of Human Rights may experience slower resolution overall because adding court and PDS cases will increase the Office's caseload.
D.C. courts, the PDS, and ultimately D.C. taxpayers could face increased legal exposure and potential costs from discrimination claims brought under the Human Rights Act.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 12, 2026 by Eleanor Holmes Norton · Last progress January 12, 2026
Adds nonjudicial employees of the District of Columbia courts and employees of the District of Columbia Public Defender Service to the coverage of the D.C. Human Rights Act, treating those workers as "employees" and the courts and the Public Defender Service as "employers" under that law. It also removes those entities from a separate D.C. agency-level complaint process so discrimination complaints from these workers are handled under the Human Rights Act process. The change applies to complaints filed on or after enactment.