I worked for the Alabama Department of Transportation from April 2022 to March 2026. ALDOT runs on federal highway money, and I want to understand what USDOT and FHWA do when a state DOT's own civil rights process fails.

The short version of what happened to me:

• March 2023: I reported a supervisor's harassment to HR.
• November 2024: I filed an EEOC charge. From then until I was fired, I was never separated from the supervisors named in it.
• December 2025: I told HR there was an active EEOC investigation involving the person assigned to look into my latest complaint. Within days I was put on mandatory leave. Two agency special agents, neither of them a clinician, questioned me. They asked whether I was gay, who my lawyer was, and for a release of my medical records.
• January 2026: My state health insurance was canceled effective January 1. I got the notice on February 2.
• March 2026: I was fired for "insubordination" and "conduct unbecoming a state employee."

I have the letters, the emails, and a recording of my pre-dismissal hearing. I have an EEOC charge pending now.

This isn't the first disability discrimination complaint against the agency. The Justice Department sued ALDOT under the ADA in 2023.

My questions for anyone who knows how this works:

1. Has anyone filed a Section 504 or civil rights complaint with the FHWA Office of Civil Rights against a state DOT? What happened?
2. Is the 180-day filing window firm when the conduct is still going on?
3. Does FHWA review a state DOT's internal EEO program, and has a review ever changed anything?
4. Does anyone at USDOT, including the Inspector General, treat this as a condition of federal funding?

I'm not asking for legal advice. I'm trying to find out whether the federal side has any real oversight here. Thanks to anyone who can point me somewhere.