Title VI Complaint Procedures

Title VI Complaint Procedures for Community Transit
Any individual, group of individuals, or entity that believes they have been subjected to discrimination prohibited by Title VI nondiscrimination provisions may file a written complaint with Community Transit of New River Valley Community Services Title VI Compliance Officer. A formal complaint must be filed within 180 calendar days of the alleged occurrence or when the alleged discrimination became known to the complainant.

The complaint must meet the following requirements:

1. Complaint shall be in writing and signed by the complainant(s).
2. Include the date of the alleged act of discrimination (date when the complainant(s) became aware of the alleged discrimination; or the date on which that conduct was discontinued or the latest instance of the conduct).
3. Present a detailed description of the issues, including names and job titles of those individuals perceived as parties in the complained-of incident.
4. Allegations received by fax or e-mail will be acknowledged and processed, once the identity(ies) of the complainant(s) and the intent to proceed with the complaint have been established. The complainant is required to mail a signed, original copy of the fax or e-mail transmittal for New River Valley Community Services (NRVCS) to be able to process it.
5. Allegations received by telephone will be reduced to writing and provided to complainant for confirmation or revision before processing.
6. A complaint form will be forwarded to the complainant for him/her to complete, sign, and return to NRVCS for processing.

Upon receipt of the complaint, the Title VI Compliance Officer will determine its jurisdiction, acceptability, and need for additional information, as well as investigate the merit of the complaint.

In order to be accepted, a complaint must meet the following criteria:

1. The complaint must be filed within 180 calendar days of the alleged occurrence or when the alleged discrimination became known to the complainant.
2. The allegation(s) must involve a covered basis such as race, color, or national origin.
3. The allegation(s) must involve a program or activity of a federal-aid recipient, sub-recipient, or contractor.

A complaint may be dismissed for the following reasons:

1. The complainant requests the withdrawal of the complaint.
2. The complainant fails to respond to repeated requests for addition information needed to process the complaint.
3. The complainant cannot be located after reasonable attempts.

Once NRVCS decides to accept the complaint for investigation, the complainant and the respondent will be notified in writing of such determination within seven (7) calendar days. The complaint will receive a case number and will then be logged into NRVCS’s records identifying its basis and alleged harm.

In cases where NRVCS assumes the investigation of the complaint, NRVCS will provide the respondent with the opportunity to respond to the allegations in writing. The respondent will have 10 calendar days from the date of NRVCS written notification of acceptance of the complaint to furnish his/her response to the allegations.

NRVCS’s final investigative report and a copy of the complaint will be forwarded to FTA (or appropriate agency) and affected parties within 60 calendar days of the acceptance of the complaint.

NRVCS will notify the parties of its final decision.

If complainant is not satisfied with the results of the investigation of the alleged discrimination and practices the complainant will be advised of their right file a complaint with FTA.