Overview
- Employees who had been on paid administrative leave were told to resume work starting Dec. 15, according to a department statement.
- The department did not specify how many staff will return; court records indicate 299 OCR employees were affected in March, 52 have since left, and emails went to some of the remaining staff.
- Officials say the agency will continue appealing the reductions-in-force even as recalled employees return to enforcement work.
- An internal estimate cited by reporting places the backlog at about 25,000 pending complaints, including roughly 7,000 open investigations, with disability cases comprising a large share.
- Public data show a sharp decline in disability-discrimination resolution agreements—73 reported for 2025 versus 390 in 2024 and over 1,000 in 2017—as unions decry more than $40 million in paid leave costs and advocates describe offices going quiet.