D.C. Courts Adopt New Employee Dispute Resolution Plan

May 21, 2021

On May 20 the D.C. Courts announced the adoption of a new employee dispute resolution (EDR) plan as part of its efforts to foster a respectful workplace and ensure that concerns about fair employment practices can be openly and safely discussed. The plan closely follows that of the U.S. Courts that was adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States in 2019 for reporting and resolving allegations of wrongful conduct in the workplace.

The D.C. Courts’ EDR plan includes definitions and examples of wrongful conduct, three flexible options for resolving conduct issues, and clarification regarding confidentiality. 

“The D.C. Courts specifically have pledged to embody the values of excellence, accountability, respect, and transparency,” said Court of Appeals Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby. “The new EDR plan, both through its standards of conduct and through the training and outreach we will do as part of it, is another way that we commit ourselves to living our values.” 

The plan reflects the yearlong efforts of the Advisory Committee on Workplace Conduct, chaired by Superior Court Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring. “At the forefront of our workforce’s dedication to judicial public service must be an awareness of our own power subtleties that can foster or inhibit a physically and psychologically safe workplace,” Judge Josey-Herring said. “It is incumbent on all of us to examine those challenges and address what we find.”