The Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act, now known as the No Fear Act, affirms the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure that all Federal employees feel free to come forward with allegations of discrimination, wrongdoing, or misconduct.  It does so by making sure that Federal employees are aware of their rights.  The law was signed on May 15, 2002.

The No Fear Act requires Federal agencies to:

• Give employees and applicants notice of the Act via their websites, and to provide employees training regarding their rights under anti-discrimination and whistleblower protection laws.
• Make available via their websites data relating to equal employment opportunity complaints received by the agency.
• Provide managers training in heading up a team of diverse employees, communication, and conflict resolution.
• Take steps to improve the process of lodging workplace complaints.
• Study trends and causes of workplace discrimination complaints.
• Take appropriate and immediate steps to discipline employees engaging in discriminatory acts.
• Submit reports to the U.S. Attorney General, Congress, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on an annual basis detailing incidents of retaliation and disposition, as well as employees disciplined for such actions.

The Board received zero complaints in fiscal year 2013 and has not received any complaints in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014.