Finding the Facts - Disciplinary and Harassment Investigation

If the district, for reasons beyond its control is unable to comply with the 90-day deadline, the district may request that the Chancellor grant an extension. 42 The request for extension must be submitted no later than ten days prior to the expiration of the deadline. 43 The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCO) issued a Legal Advisory on September 2, 2011 regarding the discrimination complaint procedures under Title 5. The Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education (OCR) brought to CCCO’s attention several areas where there may be some confusion regarding how best to comply with both state and federal regulations when responding to unlawful discrimination complaints. The advisory addresses these issues and identifies some areas of misunderstanding regarding the respondent’s (subject of a complaint or accused) rights within the Title 5 process. 44 Specifically, the respondent is entitled to the opportunity to address the complaint that has been filed, but those rights and entitlements are not covered by Title 5. Four examples are listed below with “best practices” recommendations in parentheses: (1) Under Title 5, a respondent is not entitled to a copy of the complaint itself (information contained in the complaint should be provided to the respondent as necessary to provide sufficient notice of and fully investigate the allegation(s)); Title 5 does not require that the respondent be advised about the outcome of the investigation and the basis for the complaint determination (OCR has advised that providing this information is permissible); After the administrative determination is made, respondents are not entitled to add any additional information for local board to review (If a respondent wishes to file a written response, he or she may do so during the initial investigation and this information can be part of the investigation report.); and (2) (3) On May 16, 2016, the CCCO issued Legal Opinion 16-03 with respect to Student and Employment Discrimination Complaint and Procedures. We provide Legal Opinion 16-03 because it provides a good overview of the State Chancellor’s expectations with regard to investigating formal harassment and discrimination complaints. The Opinion largely tracks your obligations under Title 5, section 59300 et seq. However, we flag that pursuant to the regulations, the Administrative Determination that you are required to provide to complainants must include either the investigation report or a summary of the investigation. The Legal Opinion states that districts “should” attach the investigation report. As Chancellor’s opinions are not legally controlling, we read this “should” as permissive. Districts may provide only a summary of the report. (4) Under Title 5, respondents do not have the right to appeal an administrative determination.

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