Deputy Director

Barbara Dougherty

Departmental Office of Civil Rights
Office of the Secretary, U. S. Department of Transportation
Washington, DC 20590

Barbara Dougherty is Deputy Director, Departmental Office of Civil Rights, at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). She is a member of the Senior Executive Service and joined DOT on July 20, 2020.

Prior to joining DOT, Barbara was the Senior Attorney Advisor for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC), Office of Federal Operations, Federal Sector Programs (FSP). While in FSP, Barbara worked on developing and implementing EEOC-wide strategies, policies, plans, goals and objectives to ensure federal agency compliance with applicable laws, regulations and management directives. She was involved in virtually every aspect of EEOC’s federal agency oversight efforts by providing guidance and advice to federal agencies on EEO programs, including identification of program deficiencies, barrier analysis, recruiting and hiring, complaint processing, compliance, anti-harassment policies and reasonable accommodation programs. She also worked closely with labor economists and other subject matter experts to enhance customer service levels and quality of workforce data analysis provided to federal agencies. She regularly conducted training and outreach sessions for federal agencies and was a frequent speaker at federal sector and stakeholder conferences.

Barbara joined EEOC in 1993 as Assistant General Counsel for Systemic Litigation Services. During her tenure in the Office of General Counsel (OGC), she oversaw the litigation of large cases and those involving novel legal issues, and she also managed litigation for the Washington Field Office. Notable litigation included obtaining EEOC’s first successful jury verdict in a case challenging mandatory age 60 corporate pilot retirement rules and successful cases involving Title VII ”sex plus” discrimination and the Americans with Disabilities Act. While in OGC, Barbara was a member of the EEOC-wide negotiations training team and designed and administered EEOC’s first headquarters-wide summer intern legal training program.

Barbara began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in the District of Columbia. From there, she became a commercial litigation associate at Finley, Kumble, et al. before joining Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, where her cases included a personal lawsuit for the great Ted Williams. Barbara is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and has an undergraduate Music degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Phi Beta Kappa). She and her husband are raising their family on Capitol Hill and are active members of that vibrant community. Barbara is a dedicated supporter of the Shakespeare Theatre Company and Washington Performing Arts, and she is a lifelong New York Mets fan.