FY 2004 Budget Request and GPRA Annual Performance Plan

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

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Table of Contents

I. INTRODUCTION

Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Request

Ensuring the Promise of Equal Employment Opportunity

Mission, Vision and Values

Strategic Initiatives

II. PROGRAM AND BUDGET SUMMARY

Agency Workload

Table 1: Total Agency Workload

Table 2: Total Agency Budget

Table 3: Full Time Equivalents (FTE)

Appropriation Language

Agency Funding Profile

Analysis of Change

Object Class Schedule--Agency Summary

III. STRATEGIC GOAL 1

Enforcement Programs

Funding Costs for Strategic Goal 1

Table 4: FY 2004 Requested Resources for Strategic Goal 1

Means and Strategies for Strategic Goal 1

Private Sector Enforcement

Table 5: Private Sector Enforcement–Workload Projections for Fiscal Year 2004

Table 6: Private Sector Enforcement–Workflow Analysis

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: Private Sector Enforcement

Object Class Schedule: Private Sector Enforcement

Federal Sector Enforcement

Hearings

Table 7: Hearings Workload Projections for Fiscal Year 2004

Appeals

Table 8: Appeals Workload Projections for Fiscal Year 2004

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: Federal Sector Enforcement

Object Class Schedule: Federal Sector Enforcement

State and Local Program

Table 9: State and Local Workload Projections

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: State and Local Program

IV. STRATEGIC GOAL 2

Prevention Programs

Funding Costs for Strategic Goal 2

Table 10: FY 2004 Requested Resources for Strategic Goal 2

Means and Strategies for Strategic Goal 2

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures:

Object Class Schedule: Outreach, Education and Technical Assistance

V. STRATEGIC GOAL 3

Enhance Agency Effectiveness

Strategic Goal 3 Funding Costs Allocated Between Strategic Goals 1 and 2

Fiscal Year 2004 Initiatives Improving Agency Effectiveness

Workforce Restructuring

Technology Requirements and Enhancements

Table 11: Five-Year Information Resources Management Strategic Plan

EEOC's Five-Point Plan: EEOC as a Model Workplace

President's Management Agenda

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: Enhance Agency Effectiveness

VI. EEOC REVOLVING FUND

Summary of Financing

Education, Technical Assistance and Training Revolving Fund

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: The Revolving Fund

Object Class Schedule: EEOC Education, Technical Assistance, and Training Revolving Fund

VII. VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF DATA

VIII. PROGRAM EVALUATION

IX. APPENDIX–General Statement of Laws

I. INTRODUCTION

Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Request

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requests a budget of $334,754,000 for fiscal year 2004. This request represents an overall increase of $14.3 million above the agency's fiscal year 2003 request. The increase includes $5 million for fiscal year 2004 to begin implementation of a vital five-year restructuring initiative, including $2 million for technology-related improvements, that will allow the agency to continue to realign functions and resources to serve the American public more efficiently. Also, $3.8 million is needed to update and modernize technology in other areas. The remaining $5.5 million will fund various adjustments to base; including increases in rent, the fiscal year 2004 pay raise, and to annualize fiscal year 2003 compensation and benefit costs.

In fiscal years 2003 and 2004, the agency will continue to strengthen the links between budget and performance as required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). In support of the President's Management Agenda we have aligned our budget request with our strategic plan, and funding that was previously included under the activity "Executive Direction and Support" has been allocated to the agency's first two strategic goals.

Ensuring the Promise of Equal Employment Opportunity

We take great pride in our work to promote equality of opportunity for all workers across America. Through proactive prevention – outreach, education, and technical assistance – we help employees and employers understand their rights and responsibilities under the federal civil rights laws. Through enforcement activities – investigation, mediation, litigation and adjudication – we have obtained relief for millions of aggrieved workers. Through thoughtful, fair, and balanced interpretation of the law, we play a key role in the development of strong national civil rights policy.

While our nation has made much progress over the past four decades, many new and continuing challenges still lie ahead. EEOC continues to receive large numbers of discrimination charges, with age and disability discrimination representing the two fastest growing areas of discrimination since fiscal year 2000. The American workforce is aging quickly as the Baby Boom generation approaches retirement. At the same time, better health and longer lives are redefining the attitudes and expectations of older Americans toward work and retirement. Research shows that 80 percent of Baby Boomers plan to work at least part-time during their retirement years.¹ A workforce with a larger percentage of older workers poses new workplace challenges, as we already have begun to see in the complex area of employee benefits. A struggling economy – combined with a global economic environment where corporate mergers, restructuring, and downsizing are commonplace – has also brought more older workers to our doors.

Recent studies also report that people with disabilities constitute the largest minority group in America, with over 20 percent of Americans reporting some level of disability and more than half of these reporting that they had a severe disability.² The percentage of disabled individuals increases with age and, therefore, the number of disabled workers is expected to rise as the workforce continues to age. Also, more people with disabilities than ever are participating – or are looking to participate – in the American workforce. This increase can be attributed to technological advances, the positive impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on American society over the past decade, and greater numbers of young people with disabilities who have successfully participated in the educational system as the result of inroads made under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. Thus, as the Baby-Boomers begin to age, and as our youngest generation of people with disabilities now begin to enter the workforce, we are seeing an overall increase in disability discrimination charges and an increasing need for outreach and education.

These are just two of many trends we have begun to see, and we expect they will continue into fiscal year 2004 and beyond. Yet, these trends are just some of the challenges EEOC faces. Today's emerging workplace issues are vastly different from those of a decade ago. Technological advancements, unprecedented economic growth, the globalization of world markets and profound demographic shifts are reshaping the American workplace. The workforce is more mobile than ever before, with more contingent and alternative work arrangements than just a few years ago. Employers and employees are negotiating complex issues like talent shortages, greater competition for talent, and family friendly work programs.

This is not business as usual, and all of these profound social, economic and demographic changes have equally profound implications for our agency and the work we do. To carry out our mission effectively in the new millennium, we must retool and be prepared to identify and address the new and unique challenges of today's workplace. Our efforts to shift focus and strategy will be evident throughout this budget and annual performance plan submission. All of our key initiatives – including our Five-Point Plan – reflect our need and desire to become more strategic, more creative and more proactive and to affirm our role and presence in American society.

Mission, Vision and Values

Our Mission³, Vision and Values drive our goals and performance every day.

Our Mission

We promote equality of opportunity in the workplace and enforce federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.

Our Vision

Become the world's preeminent civil rights employment law agency and serve as the standard bearer for excellence in outreach, enforcement and professionalism.

Our Values

• Excellence in our service to the public through professionalism, diligence, and dedication.
• Empowerment of our employees through development, recognition, respect, access, and inclusion.
• Ownership of our performance through results, accountability, and quality work.
• Commitment to our mission through integrity, leadership and team work.

Strategic Initiatives

Since the start of fiscal year 2002, EEOC has focused on five key initiatives that form the basis of this performance budget. In fiscal year 2004, we will build on our earlier successes and continue to integrate all five initiatives into a single cohesive approach. The five initiatives are:

• EEOC's Five-Point Plan
• President's Management Agenda
• President's New Freedom Initiative
• EEOC's Freedom to Compete Initiative
• Leading Inter-Agency Coordination

 

 

Five-Point Plan

 

 

EEOC's Five-Point Plan provides the strategic framework for accomplishing our agency's vision. Accordingly, the Plan places priority on coordination, innovation and results. Under the Plan, all facets of EEOC's work will be viewed with an eye toward being more proactive and effective.

• Proactive Prevention

• We believe the best way to combat discrimination is to prevent it from happening in the first place. We will provide information and solutions to our customers that will help them identify and solve problems before they escalate. We will establish a Center that will serve as a clearinghouse of reports and best practices to encourage learning and understanding among employers and employees. We will also introduce new and innovative outreach activities, such as: teleconferences; technical assistance visits; flexible training opportunities; an enhanced Web site; information dissemination through public radio and television; cyber forums; and partnerships and strategic alliances to strengthen efforts and build support. In essence, we will work with our customers to promote healthy workplace practices through education and knowledge.

• Proficient Resolution

• Providing quality services that are fair and cost effective and resolving cases in a time frame that provides customers with meaningful results is vital to EEOC's mission. We will ensure that our activities and functions are consistent, accurate and timely. EEOC will evaluate and improve every stage of the private sector charge process and will collaborate with other federal agencies in our efforts to make the federal complaint process more efficient. EEOC will also introduce new performance improvement techniques to reduce the number of steps we take while enhancing the integrity of our processes.

• Strategic Enforcement and Litigation

• We must use all research tools available to us, and deploy agency resources strategically, if we are to have a meaningful impact on discrimination in today's workplaces. We will examine emerging workplace trends and issues in both the private and federal sectors and use this information to make reasoned and calculated decisions about what issues merit our attention and how we can better integrate our policy, guidance, investigative, litigation and federal coordination functions. In determining where we need to focus attention, EEOC will establish baseline information on investigation, litigation and federal sector activities; examine recent court decisions; consult with agency staff and customers; evaluate our outreach activities; and conduct annual reviews of economic indicators, demographic trends, employer practices, industry literature and legislative initiatives. Finally, we will continue to strengthen partnerships between EEOC investigators and attorneys and between EEOC and other federal agencies.

• Promote and Expand Mediation/ADR

• Promoting and expanding mediation and other types of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is the centerpiece of the EEOC's Five-Point Plan. Our private sector mediation program has demonstrated that disputes can be settled quickly, amicably and cost-effectively through ADR techniques. At the end of fiscal year 2002, the average time to mediate a charge was only 82 days, while the average closure time for all other charges was more than twice as long – 171 days.

  We will build on earlier successes through the continued development of a comprehensive agency-wide ADR program. We have expanded the pool of private sector charges eligible for mediation and now offer mediation at other stages of the private sector charge process. We also will work to expand the number of private employers participating in Universal Agreements to Mediate, which allow EEOC to attempt mediation in all appropriate cases involving an employer so long as the charging party and employer consent. Finally, we will evaluate two innovative mediation programs piloted in fiscal year 2003. One program suspends the processing of a charge in order to allow a charging party to use an employersponsored ADR program to try and resolve the dispute. The other program involves partnering with state and local Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPA) with established programs to mediate charges for EEOC on a contract basis.

  EEOC will also expand the use of ADR in the federal sector program by continuing to explore new and different ADR methods, identifying ADR methods that prove most efficient and cost effective at the hearings stage of the federal complaint process, and evaluating the results of an appellate-stage mediation program piloted in 2002. We will continue to expand and improve our Federal Sector ADR web page, which serves as a clearinghouse about ADR for federal employees.

  Finally, we will design a model ADR program to handle our own workplace disputes, which will be piloted in fiscal year 2003 and implemented in fiscal year 2004.

• EEOC as a Model Workplace

• The President's Management Agenda provides the roadmap for the final point of the agency's Five-Point Plan. The President's agenda addresses important enhancements to internal agency operations and its interface with the American public. A carefully developed and executed strategic management plan will integrate our Five-Point Plan and other Administration and agency initiatives. This integration will result in a model workplace where we can effectively and efficiently accomplish our goals in an environment conducive to good employment practices.

  The very principles and standards we promote to businesses and other federal agencies should be readily apparent in our own operations. To achieve our aims, we will build an organization committed to providing opportunities for EEOC employees to grow professionally. We will accomplish this through occupational and leadership development, performance management programs, the use of enabling technologies and a flexible, adaptable work environment that is conducive to teamwork. We will build a model workplace with programs and practices worthy of emulation.

 

 

President's Management Agenda

 

 

• Strategic Management of Human Capital
• Competitive Sourcing
• Improved Financial Performance
• Expanded Electronic Government
• Budget and Performance Integration

The President's Management Agenda envisions a citizen-centered, results oriented, and market-based federal government and contains five government-wide goals to improve agency management and deliver results to the American public. EEOC has incorporated each of these critical goals into our Five-Point Plan.

This fiscal year 2004 performance budget reflects EEOC's initial attempts to integrate the budget with our strategic planning and performance-based programs. EEOC also has embarked on a broad-based, agency-wide review of our GPRA Strategic Plan. We will implement a new Strategic Plan that incorporates all of our key initiatives – including EEOC's Five-Point Plan and the President's Management Agenda – by October 1, 2003. The new Strategic Plan will guide the implementation of this budget and our annual performance plan in fiscal year 2004.

New Freedom Initiative

In 2001, President Bush launched the New Freedom Initiative (NFI) – a comprehensive strategy for achieving full integration of individuals with disabilities into all aspects of the nation's social and economic life. Access to employment is one critical aspect of full integration. As the law enforcement agency responsible for enforcing the employment title of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), EEOC continues to work closely with other federal agencies and the White House to implement the NFI in the workplace.

To date, our NFI activities have focused primarily on small business. In 2002, EEOC began partnering with local Chambers of Commerce and business and disability groups across the country to provide free workshops to small employers on the ADA. The workshops offered small employers an overview of the ADA, practical advice on how to comply, and information on the advantages of employing individuals with disabilities. Nearly forty-five workshops took place or were in development in FY 2002. EEOC expects to continue the workshops throughout fiscal years 2003 and 2004.

In August 2002, EEOC produced a practical, reader-friendly handbook outlining the employment provisions of the ADA as they relate to both employees and job applicants. The handbook – entitled The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Primer for Small Business – has been well received and is in heavy demand.

The President's New Freedom Initiative also emphasizes the importance of telework and technological innovation as vehicles for increasing the employment of people with disabilities. In fiscal years 2003 and 2004, EEOC expects to launch initiatives on both telework and technology as they relate to an employer's obligation to provide reasonable accommodation under the ADA.

Freedom to Compete Initiative

Chair Cari M. Dominguez launched EEOC's Freedom to Compete Initiative in 2001. The essence of the Initiative is simple. By advancing free marketplace principles, corporate America led our nation to its present position of global economic preeminence. Our laws, our citizens, and our economy now demand that those same principles that worked so well in the marketplace be applied in the workplace.

Through the Freedom to Compete Initiative, EEOC will work to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to compete in the workplace on a fair and level playing field, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or disability. The Initiative will focus on how our nation's employers can work in partnership with EEOC to identify and eliminate organizational and attitudinal barriers that may still be obstructing open competition in the workplace and how together we can develop proactive and innovative solutions to eliminate those barriers.

EEOC will be partnering, developing strategic alliances and using other collaborative efforts to engage stakeholders in efforts to influence the opinions of leaders in the economic community to implement this critical Initiative and drive change in the workplace. The EEOC's enhanced outreach and education efforts include roundtable discussions, commission meetings, and public service announcements.

Leading Inter-Agency Coordination

The EEOC serves as the lead agency in the coordination of federal agencies' enforcement of all federal statutes, Executive Orders, regulations, and policies requiring equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability. Since the issuance of Executive Order 12067 in 1978, the EEOC has exercised this responsibility in many different ways; coordinating and cooperating with key federal agencies responsible for areas of equal employment opportunity. The EEOC will continue to reinvigorate its leadership in this area as the lead federal civil rights agency for equal employment discrimination policy and programs.

II. PROGRAM AND BUDGET SUMMARY

Agency Workload

The EEOC has enforcement authority for equal employment opportunity in two primary areas: the private sector and the federal sector. In the private sector, we address equal employment opportunity in several ways. We conduct outreach events and provide education and technical assistance. We enforce statutes by investigating charges of discrimination filed by members of the public; making findings on those allegations; resolving charges through mediation or in settlement or conciliation during the administrative enforcement process; and, litigating cases of employment discrimination. We also contract with Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs), which address employment discrimination within the respective state and local jurisdictions, and work with Native-American Tribal Employment Rights Organizations (TEROs) to promote employment opportunities for Native Americans on or near a reservation. In the federal sector, we promote equal employment opportunity through outreach, education and technical assistance; hold hearings on complaints of discrimination filed in federal agencies; and decide appeals of complaints of discrimination.

Table 1: Total Agency Workload

Table 2: Total Agency Budget

Table 3: Full Time Equivalents (FTE)

Appropriation Language

For necessary expenses of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as authorized by title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (29 U.S.C. 206(d) and 621-634), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, including services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109; hire of passenger motor vehicles as authorized by 31 U.S.C. 1343(b); non-monetary awards to private citizens; and not to exceed $30,000,000 for payments to State and local enforcement agencies for services to the Commission pursuant to title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, sections 6 and 14 of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, $334,754,000: Provided, That the Commission is authorized to make available for official reception and representation expenses not to exceed $2,500 from available funds.

Note: A regular 2003 appropriation for this account had not been enacted at the time the budget was prepared; therefore, this account is operating under a continuing resolution (P.L. 107-229, as amended). The amounts included for 2003 in this budget reflect the Administration's 2003 policy proposals.

Agency Funding Profile

 

 

Analysis of Change

 

 

Fiscal Year 2004 (Dollars in thousands*)

*may not add due to rounding

 

 

Object Class Schedule--Agency Summary

 

 

Agency Summary Requirements by Object Class (Dollars in thousands*)

*may not add due to rounding

III. STRATEGIC GOAL 1

Enforce Federal Civil Rights Employment Laws Through a Comprehensive Enforcement Program.

Enforcement Programs

The EEOC's three nationwide enforcement programs are included under Strategic Goal 1: private sector enforcement, federal sector enforcement, and the State and Local Program. We enforce several civil rights employment law statutes and operate under regulations and guidance to conduct our work and accomplish our mission.

Our staff accomplishes a vast array of enforcement activities in 51 field offices nationwide and our headquarters operation in Washington, D.C. For example, in the private sector program, numerous charging parties are counseled about procedures for filing a charge of employment discrimination. Over 80,000 private sector charges alleging employment discrimination are received each year. Over 95,000 charges (fiscal year 2002 data) are resolved in mediation or settlement; in conciliation after our finding of reasonable cause to believe that discrimination occurred; by dismissal because we found no reasonable cause to believe that discrimination occurred, or we administratively closed the charge. From fiscal year 1996 to the present, litigation was filed in 167-439 cases each year, with between 550-890 cases in litigation during the year.

In our federal sector program, approximately 20,000 hearings requests alleging employment discrimination at federal agencies are in the workload during the year; comprised of approximately 10,000 charges in the pending inventory and 10,000 new requests. Approximately 9,000– over 11,000 hearings cases are resolved each year. In addition, approximately 9,000–10,000 appeals of federal complaints of employment discrimination are in our workload during the year and over 8,000 appeals are resolved annually.

Finally, we contract with state and local Fair Employment Practice Agencies (FEPAs) and work with Native-American Tribal Employment Rights Organizations (TEROs). Long-standing agreements with FEPAs to process charges filed under federal and a comparable state or local law greatly assist charging parties and employers by streamlining their interactions with government agencies. In addition, the state and local budget allows us to provide assistance to FEPAs and TEROs with training, education and enhanced technology, which enables federal and state or local government and tribal groups to better serve the American public.

Funding Costs for Strategic Goal 1

This fiscal year 2004 performance budget begins to identify and collect funding information and align costs with strategic goals in the agency's effort to implement the President's Management Agenda for budget and performance integration. Over the next few years, we will substantially improve our capability to identify and collect cost information at a greater degree of detail and to link these costs to specific goals and measures.

All of our requested funds are allocated between Strategic Goals 1 and 2, which comprise all mission-related programs. For example, costs to support execution of our workforce restructuring efforts, technology enhancements, the five areas of the President's Management Agenda, and development of EEOC as a model employer under our Five-Point Plan are distributed between Strategic Goals 1 and 2. These specific supporting activities and initiatives are described in Strategic Goal 3.

Table 4: FY 2004 Requested Resources for Strategic Goal 1

 

 

Means and Strategies for Strategic Goal 1

 

 

The EEOC will use a multifaceted approach to accomplish its mission-related enforcement activities. Workforce restructuring is critical to our future success. Once we receive recommendations in fiscal year 2003 from a study currently under way by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), we will implement a broad effort to realign our work force and structure to create a more effective and efficient organization.

The long-term effect of the restructuring and realignment will be improved front-line operations and service delivery; saved resources to be redirected to other critical areas of our work; and a more effective and efficient workplace, improving the working environment for all EEOC employees.

In addition to the overall agency restructuring endeavor, we are reviewing the federal sector program. Federal employees and agencies labor under an equal employment opportunity system that is overburdened, time-consuming, and costly. We will work with constituency groups and within the Administration throughout fiscal years 2003 and 2004 to meet the important challenge of improving the effectiveness of the federal sector program.

We are also enhancing our partnership with the FEPAs and TEROs to improve service at the front-line for employee and employer customers. Our work sharing agreements with FEPAs are an important element for providing improved service. For the first time, a measure is included in the performance plan for fiscal year 2004 to reduce the average processing time for charges investigated by FEPAs.

Updated technology is critical for making EEOC employees as productive as possible, especially as the organization undergoes restructuring over the next five years. We have made efforts to improve our technology base by replacing outdated computer equipment and providing employees with more effective and efficient ways to conduct their work and gain important new knowledge and skills. We are also implementing many other approaches to utilize technology, save resources and implement the electronic government initiative of the President's Management Agenda. The technology initiatives are described in Strategic Goal 3.

Private Sector Enforcement

Private sector enforcement program, including the administrative charge process and litigation, involves a large proportion of the EEOC's work and resources. Individuals file charges alleging employment discrimination. We assist these charging parties in the filing process, offer mediation to both charging parties and respondents; review and investigate charges; make findings regarding the allegations of employment discrimination raised in the charge; and conduct settlement efforts to resolve the allegations, in addition to mediation, throughout the charge investigation process. Finally, in appropriate cases, we file litigation based on the merits of a case, the legal precedents involved, and the strategic deployment of the agency's resources.

The estimated workload for the private sector administrative charge process (excluding litigation) for fiscal year 2004 is shown in Table 5 on page 25. The distribution of the workload among the various statutes enforced by the agency is displayed in Table 6 on page 26.

Table 5: Private Sector Enforcement–Workload Projections for Fiscal Year 2004

*may not add due to rounding

 

 

Table 6: Private Sector Enforcement–Workflow Analysis

 

 

*may not add due to rounding

An effective litigation program facilitates the achievement of a number of interrelated goals. Litigation educates employers about their federal statutory responsibilities, deters employers from discriminating, eliminates discriminatory workplace policies and practices, and compensates victims of discrimination. We achieve these goals by building a litigation docket with geographic diversity to have a presence in different courts throughout the country, and with statutory diversity to address all of the laws, covered groups and issues. It is critical that we maintain a litigation program that is visible and diverse to be effective in redressing discrimination and motivating employers to avoid discriminatory practices in the first place. We expect to file 280 - 380 new lawsuits in fiscal year 2004.

During fiscal year 2004, we will shift resources to coordinate our prevention and enforcement activities. This shift will allow us to focus on the important proactive prevention efforts anticipated in the Five-Point Plan. We anticipate 3,000 more charges in the inventory by the end of fiscal year 2004 than at the end of fiscal year 2003. As we begin realizing significant savings and program efficiencies from the restructuring efforts, however, we will refine the out-year workload projections. For litigation, we will strategically identify new litigation and maintain a litigation docket to ensure the effective enforcement of the statutes we enforce.

We are also promoting and expanding the use of mediation techniques to resolve disputes early in the charge process, in the conciliation phase and in the litigation process; emulating and broadening our successful mediation program into other stages of our private sector program. Resolving a dispute early reduces or curtails the likelihood of an adversarial relationship between an employer and employee. Directing resources towards improving employee-employer relationships and remedying alleged acts of employment discrimination early enables us to focus our resources on other activities; allowing us to expand our reach and ability to root out employment discrimination.

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: Private Sector Enforcement

Strategic Objective 1.1. Improve the effectiveness of the private sector enforcement program, including the use of charge prioritization, mediation and litigation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During fiscal year 2002, we succeeded in resolving almost 66% of our private sector charges within 180 days of receipt. One hundred and eighty days is an important time frame for several reasons. First, the statutes EEOC enforces generally allow a charging party to proceed to file a lawsuit in federal court only after the EEOC has first had 180 days to investigate the charge. Second, parties generally view 180 days as a reasonable time to wait for a resolution. Finally, the various steps required to investigate a charge, especially if mediation is unsuccessful, consumes most of this 180-day period.

 

With this established 180-day period, it is important for us to complete the processing of as many charges as possible for several critical reasons. All of the parties involved in the administrative charge process–the EEOC, the charging party and the respondent, usually an employer–invest considerable time and resources to process a charge of discrimination. All parties involved need to use these resources as productively as possible. Also, during the 180-day period, it is often easier to voluntarily reach a remedy of the alleged discrimination before viewpoints harden.

Although we are currently exceeding our 60% target value for this measure, we are balancing our resources to also pursue several other important initiatives, especially the enhancement of our prevention activities under Strategic Goal 2. Over several years, we sharply reduced our inventory of charges. As we seek a balance between our enforcement and prevention efforts, the current percentage reflects what we believe to be an optimum number of charges that can be reasonably processed within the time frame. Also, a significant portion of the charges can take much longer than 180 days to complete because of the merits of the allegations raised. Finally, in fiscal year 2002, we implemented a plan to address the oldest charges and reduce the overall age of the agency's inventory.

Key factors in the inventory reduction over the years have been the Priority Charge Handling Procedure (PCHP) and EEOC's mediation (ADR) program. Both initiatives helped us reduce our burgeoning workload and maximize and strategically use our resources. The PCHP involves the reviews of charges at the initial charge filing stage and throughout the administrative process and categorizes them based on their priority status. Categorization is critical because it drives the resources devoted to a charge investigation and, ultimately, litigation. Charge prioritization has enabled us to make decisions and determine the use of our resources in an effective and timely manner. Consequently, we established a high goal that 90% of sampled files contain information supporting the initial charge categorization.

We must maintain a viable litigation program to promote and achieve voluntary compliance with the laws we enforce. Litigation is a last-resort alternative for the EEOC. It is a powerful tool in our pursuit to rid the American workplace of unlawful discrimination. We essentially litigate two types of discrimination cases–individual and class. An individual lawsuit usually involves a small, limited number of individuals that have been harmed as a result of a discriminatory act. A class case meets a broader criteria where we challenge a policy, a practice, or both that applies to a group of similarly situated individuals. The number of individuals involved is not the critical factor for a class case. Our enforcement priority for a class case concerns the potential for successful litigation to achieve significant impact beyond individual parties in a particular dispute. Class cases benefit more people and can serve as a deterrent to other employers because of the publicity a case receives and the size of the settlement benefits provided to victims of discriminatory policies or practices.

The current measure emphasizes class cases that are successfully litigated. In fiscal year 2004, we expect to successfully litigate a total of 70 class cases, representing 75% of the class cases completed in that fiscal year. This measure focuses the agency on a more results-oriented basis for describing the success of our litigation program.

Finally, in fiscal year 2003, we will continue to expand the number of private employers that participate in mediation by entering into Universal Agreements to Mediate. The agreements allow the EEOC to attempt mediation in all cases involving the employer, as long as the charging party consents. In fiscal year 2004, we will further expand this effort by a 25% increase in the number of employers signing these Agreements.

Object Class Schedule: Private Sector Enforcement

Private Sector Enforcement Requirements by Object Class (Dollars in thousands*)

 

 

*may not add due to rounding

 

 

Federal Sector Enforcement

The EEOC's federal sector enforcement program provides leadership and guidance to federal agencies on all aspects of the federal government's equal employment opportunity program. We operate under several statutes and Executive Orders and ensure compliance with EEOC regulations that establish a system for resolving federal sector discrimination complaints.

We are currently reviewing the entire federal sector program to improve its effectiveness and efficiency. The time it has taken to process a hearing or appeal has been substantially reduced by our diligence in improving the program, including significant changes to the regulations in fiscal year 2000. Nevertheless, the federal sector program does not provide the effective and efficient service federal employees deserve. Costs are excessive to complainants, agencies, and taxpayers. In addition, we believe that the current system is not designed to achieve a resolution of employment discrimination allegations in a way that would improve working relationships and effectively remove employment discrimination in the workplace.

We will draw lessons learned from our successful private sector charge processing model. The charge process was overburdened, time-consuming and costly until changes were implemented in the 1990s when the Priority Charge Handling Procedures and a National Enforcement Plan were adopted. Now, it is a more efficient and responsive program; shortening the average time it takes to process a charge and reducing the inventory carried from year-to-year, while reflecting an increase in the successful resolution of charges for charging parties. This is one model we are exploring in our quest to adopt a new and improved federal sector complaint program during fiscal years 2003 and 2004 that can substantially lower federal agency costs. Federal agencies can then reallocate these savings to proactive prevention, early dispute resolution and other strategies that can reduce or resolve conflict in the federal workplace at an earlier stage. We will work with federal agencies, employees and stakeholders to consider viable alternatives for dramatically improving the federal sector process. For example, in early fiscal year 2003, we conducted a public meeting to receive ideas and suggestions about how to improve the federal sector process.

In addition, we will reassess our staffing and other resources for the federal sector program. Our critical workforce restructuring effort and the President's Strategic Management of Human Capital initiative will enable us to Enhance Agency Effectiveness in the federal sector program (Strategic Goal 3, starting on page 57). In particular, we will review staff and resource allocations; prepare staff with knowledge and skills in specific program areas needing a more, or a different, emphasis; and, utilize technology, methods and techniques to redesign the work and the way it is performed.

In the process of assessing the program, it is important to note that the statutory and regulatory context for our federal program is different from our private sector enforcement program in several important ways. In the private sector program, individuals file charges directly with the EEOC. Individuals in the federal sector file complaints with their federal agency employer first. That federal agency initially investigates the claims of employment discrimination raised by the complainant. Complainants can then request a hearing by the EEOC on the allegations in the complaint. A hearing is not part of our private sector enforcement process. Also, a complainant or a federal agency can file an appeal with the EEOC. This appeals procedure is also not part of our private sector enforcement process. If dissatisfied with the outcome of either a hearing or appeal, a federal sector complainant, like a private sector charging party, can file a lawsuit in federal court to resolve the allegations of discrimination.

In addition to the hearings and appeals programs for federal sector complaints, the EEOC establishes policies implementing equal employment opportunity laws and conducts outreach, education and technical assistance activities to prevent or correct discriminatory practices in the federal sector, similar to our private sector program. A significant difference between the two programs, however, is that we conduct evaluations of federal agencies' equal employment opportunity programs, as part of our oversight role. These reviews help identify effective practices that can be shared in the federal community, or raise issues and concerns about equal employment opportunity policies or practices at an agency. During these evaluations, we have the opportunity to advise federal agency managers about the federal sector equal employment opportunity process.

Hearings

In the past few years, we have achieved significant progress in curbing the growth in the hearings inventory. We issued revised regulations in early fiscal year 2000, which continue to positively impact on the EEOC's workload in the hearings process by promoting consolidation and amendment of complaints and eliminating interlocutory appeals. The revisions made the hearings process more efficient and fair by reducing the number of hearings and avoiding fragmentation of claims. There was a 6.5% decrease in the number of hearings requested between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 2001 and a 2% drop between fiscal years 2001 and 2002, as a result of these changes and in conjunction with our role requiring agencies to make alternative dispute resolution (ADR) available before a claim reaches the hearings stage.

The revisions, however, expanded the scope of the legal claims and evidence presented at each hearing because multiple claims, previously addressed at separate hearings, were combined into one hearing. Also, as the scope of hearings expanded, there were increased legal actions that we had to address. Responsibilities for the administrative judges were increased, including the review of agency dismissals of portions of complaints, calculation of attorney fee awards, and evaluation and approval of settlement agreements in class cases. Finally, some cases that previously involved administrative judges but were easily settled are now settling at an earlier stage of the process because we have required federal agencies to offer ADR programs during their own complaint processing programs. However, even with these responsibilities increased in fiscal year 2002, we resolved 24% more hearings than in fiscal year 2001.

Table 7 shows hearings workload for fiscal year 2002 and estimates for fiscal year 2003 through 2004. We expect to continue making significant inroads into resolving our pending inventory of hearings cases and resolving more complaints at the hearings stage within 180 days.

Table 7: Hearings Workload Projections for Fiscal Year 2004

Appeals

The revised regulations similarly had a positive effect on the EEOC's appeals process. These changes achieved dramatic reductions in our appellate inventory in fiscal year 2001, reducing the inventory approximately 53% from a high in January 2000. The Commission's federal appellate program continued this impressive progress in fiscal year 2002 by reducing the appellate inventory to 4,809; a 36% reduction from the 7,536 appellate inventory at the end of fiscal year. Table 8 shows the agency's projected appeals workload for fiscal year 2004.

Table 8: Appeals Workload Projections for Fiscal Year 2004

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: Federal Sector Enforcement

 

Our first five measures cover key areas of the agency's enforcement role through our hearings and appeals program. We are achieving significant results in resolving both hearings and appeals cases within 180 days. The 180-day time period is included in the EEOC's federal sector regulations as a standard to complete processing in a timely manner. It has the same purpose and function as the 180-day period in the private sector enforcement program. Both the hearings and appeals time frames are progressing in the right direction; however, improvements are necessary in the future.

 

We are simultaneously reducing our aged inventory of appeals cases. Older cases often take longer to process because information and witness testimony is more difficult to obtain. A complainant's and an agency's circumstances may change significantly with cases taking a long time to process, and there may be less urgency to resolve it. Mindful of the adage, "[j]ustice delayed is justice denied", the Commission recognizes that it is critical to address this segment of the inventory and eliminate these older cases so that we can devote more resources to processing complaints within the 180-day time frame.

In fiscal year 2002, we exceeded targets by closing 92.5% of the appellate cases that were already 500 days old or older at the start of fiscal year 2002. In addition, we closed 40.3% of the appellate cases within 180 days. It is important to address all segments of our inventory so that we will reduce our overall inventory by ensuring that no band of cases lags behind other groups of cases.

In addition to the significant gains in processing hearings and appellate cases, we made a significant improvement in fiscal year 2002 in our method and timeliness for federal agencies to report data on their equal employment opportunity counseling and complaint processes. The EEOC collects statistical information from federal agencies and annually publishes the information in a report available to the public. The analyses of this data aid the EEOC in refining the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal equal employment opportunity process and inform the federal community and the public about key characteristics of the program in the federal sector.

As part of our oversight role, we will pilot a new, comprehensive review and assessment program in fiscal year 2004. We are responsible for ensuring that federal agencies maintain a strong equal employment opportunity environment and for providing leadership and coordination throughout the government. An oversight program of this type helps us identify problems and trends and implement strategies to address them.

We expect to fully implement a program to educate federal employers and employees on legal requirements and assist them in applying methods and techniques to prevent or resolve disputes. We are committed to enhancing voluntary compliance, as part of the agency's Five-Point Plan. This program will seek effective practices that can be shared throughout the federal community, and the effort will seek to eliminate policies and practices that violate statutory and regulatory requirements.

Finally, we must ensure that our own internal equal employment opportunity process is effective and efficient, as a federal agency itself and as a model employer. Several measures address the complaint process for our own employees in an effort to measure and improve the timeliness of internal investigations and hearings. In addition to making the EEOC a model employer, another goal of the agency's Five-Point Plan is to ensure Proficient Resolution, which includes the resolution of complaints of employment discrimination raised by EEOC employees. We exceeded our target by issuing a hearings determination within 180 days or less in all of the cases where hearings were requested on or after February 1, 2002. We only issued investigative reports within 180 days in 29% of the complaints filed on or after February 1st, however. The predominant reason was a shift in focus within the agency's EEO office to complete investigations on the older inventory first, while proceeding to process some of the newer cases within the 180 day time frame. We completed approximately 88% of the investigations of these older cases. We will close the remaining aging inventory throughout fiscal year 2003 and anticipate achieving the target for closing all investigations within 180 days during fiscal year 2004.

In addition to the two measures assessing performance for the investigations and hearings processes, we are committed to resolving disputes at the earliest possible time to enable federal sector employers and employees to create a discrimination-free workplace. Our new fiscal year 2004 measure highlights this commitment by expecting a large proportion of our own employees to elect an alternative mechanism to resolve workplace disputes.

We anticipate that success with these measures and our continued efforts to review the federal sector program throughout fiscal years 2003 and 2004, as part of our workforce restructuring and strategic management of human capital initiatives, will result in better service to federal agencies and employees.

Object Class Schedule: Federal Sector Enforcement

State and Local Program

The Commission's fiscal year 2004 request includes $30.0 million for the State and Local Program. The Commission has developed strong partnerships with the many state and local Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) and Native-American Tribal Employment Rights Organizations (TEROs). Our work-sharing agreements and other activities have benefitted the employer and employee communities by coordinating charges dual-filed under state or local law and federal law, where appropriate; by providing training on investigative and legal issues; and, by conducting joint activities, such as outreach. For example, in fiscal year 2002, we contracted with 91 FEPAs to resolve dual-filed charges. This arrangement prevents duplication of effort and streamlines the charge resolution process. We also contracted with 64 TEROs to promote employment opportunity on or near Indian reservations.

Our collaborative efforts have helped advance equal employment opportunity nationwide. We will continue contractual and technical assistance efforts with the FEPAs and the TEROs. Table 9 summarizes the State and Local Program's actual workload and results for fiscal year 2002 and estimated workload results for fiscal years 2003 through 2004.

Table 9: State and Local Workload Projections

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: State and Local Program

Strategic Objective 1.3. Strengthen partnerships with State and Local Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) and Native American Tribal Employment Rights Organizations (TEROs) to enhance effective implementation of laws addressing employment discrimination.

 

 

We will use a significantly different type of performance measure for fiscal year 2004 to describe results in our State and Local Program. By attempting to reduce the average processing time of FEPA dual-filed charges, we and our FEPA partners will provide more timely service to the employer and employee customers we both serve.

 

 

IV. STRATEGIC GOAL 2

Prevention Programs

The goal of the agency's outreach, education and technical assistance program is to encourage and facilitate voluntary compliance with the anti-discrimination laws by employers and employer groups in the private and federal sectors, and to increase knowledge about individual rights under the anti-discrimination laws among the employees, employee groups and the public. We are increasing resources in fiscal year 2004 to enhance our prevention initiatives.

Proactive Prevention is the first point of the agency's Five-Point Plan. The Plan expects us to build on our previous efforts and expand our proactive role to provide information and solutions that help identify and solve workplace problems before they escalate into intractable conflict. With more resources devoted to these efforts throughout fiscal year 2004, we will enhance our prevention role and encourage learning and understanding among employers and employees.

Discriminatory acts can occur because individuals do not understand or fully appreciate the wide-ranging differences brought to the workplace by people from various backgrounds and experiences. Also, many employers are often not aware of their responsibilities under the law. Small employers, in particular, may not have the resources to secure the advice needed to exercise those responsibilities. Likewise, employees or individuals seeking employment may not know their legal rights for equal opportunity in employment or, if they believe discrimination occurred, how best to exercise those rights.

We will broaden our efforts to build an understanding with employers and employees about employment rights and responsibilities and become informed about the changing diversity in the workplace. The Introduction to this performance budget described many types of wide-ranging activities we are engaged in, and will increase in fiscal years 2003 and 2004, to identify and work with groups needing information and assistance. As more resources are shifted to this function in fiscal year 2004, we can develop and implement many different programs and initiatives to enhance this work.

Funding Costs for Strategic Goal 2

Strategic Goal 2 includes all of the agency's no-cost based outreach, education and technical assistance activities. Fee-based programs are developed and provided under the auspices of the Revolving Fund. The Revolving Fund program is described in Section VI

Table 10: FY 2004 Requested Resources for Strategic Goal 2

Means and Strategies for Strategic Goal 2

We will proactively encourage and promote learning and understanding by employers and employees for a healthier workplace for equal employment opportunity by introducing new and expanded outreach activities. For example, we will conduct teleconferences; use technical assistance visits; provide flexible training opportunities; enhance our Web site; disseminate information through public radio or television; sponsor cyber forums and initiate other discussion forums; and develop partnerships and strategic alliances with employer and employee groups to strengthen efforts and build support.

We will also respond to the constantly changing social and economic environment and tailor our outreach, education and technical assistance to properly address issues that arise in the workplace. Workplace issues involving individuals with disabilities and older workers will impact significantly on our approaches, as we noted in the Introduction section. Also, there are other emerging issues of significance. For example, emerging issues such as discrimination based on genetic information often generate a need for us to expand our efforts and provide specific outreach, education and technical assistance to guide the dialogue on these, and other, important issues.

A significant emerging issue during fiscal year 2002 was the backlash against Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs, and other members of the Middle Eastern and South Asian communities post-September 11th. We responded to this through field outreach efforts, new brochures, translation of existing brochures, and a Commission meeting. We anticipate increased monitoring and charge processing to continue. These are the kinds of new developments that we must stand ready to address.

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: Outreach, Education and Technical Assistance

Strategic Objective 2.1.

Encourage and facilitate voluntary compliance with equal employment opportunity laws among employers and employer groups in the private and federal sectors.

Strategic Objective 2.2.

Increase knowledge about individual rights under equal employment opportunity laws among the public and employee groups.

We conduct outreach, education and technical assistance activities aimed at two primary groups–employers and employees and their respective advocacy organizations. Previously, we used various proxies of results-based performance measures to assess the success of these prevention programs. In fiscal year 2004, we will begin to refine our performance measurement tools; aiming to more directly measure how well our information and guidance are used by participants attending our events.

Measures 2.—.1. and 2.—.3. are new prevention measures that focus on assessing the usefulness of our outreach and educational programs for those attending these events. We will conduct surveys of a sample of individuals attending our programs requesting information about how valuable the information was to them in the context of employment situations. One of the measures (measure 2.—.3.) addresses results of the EEOC's fee-based outreach, education and technical assistance program (the Revolving Fund) and is included here because these activities relate to, and are critical for the success of, Strategic Goal 2 . The measure is also included in Section VI, starting on page 71, where the Revolving Fund is described.

As an initial step, these two measures are designed to determine the role our education and technical assistance programs play at the workplace. The information collected by these surveys will assist us in the future to evaluate and design more extensive approaches to obtain this valuable, results-based information.

Our third measure (2.—.2.) is also new for fiscal year 2004. We want to encourage more respondents in our private sector charge process to participate in our highly successful mediation program. The participation rate over the past several years has remained relatively constant. Approximately 29-32% of the respondents offered an opportunity to mediate elect to participate. We want to dramatically increase that percentage and will conduct a survey in fiscal year 2003 to gain insights into barriers that we can address in fiscal year 2004 with a target to increase the respondent participate rate to 40%.

Object Class Schedule: Outreach, Education and Technical Assistance

 

 

V. STRATEGIC GOAL 3

 

 

Enhance Agency Effectiveness to Achieve our Mission and Strategic Goals by Providing Executive Direction and Support and Building Institutional Knowledge

Enhance Agency Effectiveness

Strategic Goal 3 supports all of the EEOC's direct, mission-related enforcement and prevention work described in Strategic Goals 1 and 2. The infrastructure, technological capability, accuracy of data systems, knowledge and skill of employees, and many other internal support areas are directly tied to the efficiency and effectiveness of our enforcement and prevention efforts. Without a more effective and efficient infrastructure under the workforce restructuring initiative, our ability to fulfill our mission will be compromised. Without enhancing our technological capabilities, we cannot provide the best service to the American public. Without making major strides in addressing the five key components of the President's Management Agenda, we will be unable to attract new, qualified personnel; retain our current workforce; ensure our employees have cutting-edge skills; and provide a modern working environment at lower cost.

Creating an effective agency means proactively addressing all of these areas simultaneously. With the additional resources requested, we will meet this difficult challenge by creating a redesigned organization with the appropriate tools and a well-trained, motivated workforce.

Strategic Goal 3 Funding Costs Allocated Between Strategic Goals 1 and 2

All of the costs associated with funding Strategic Goal 3 activities and initiatives are directly allocated to the functions included in Strategic Goals 1 and 2.

Fiscal Year 2004 Initiatives Improving Agency Effectiveness

Workforce Restructuring

Our fiscal year 2004 budget request includes $5 million above the agency's base to cover the cost of workforce restructuring. In April 2002, we contracted with the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) for a study to assess our structure and workforce issues. The NAPA will provide options, recommendations and a five-year implementation plan to restructure the agency. Concurrent with the NAPA study, the agency's Inspector General (IG) began an assessment of telecommuting options and the feasibility of substantially expanding the program to reduce overhead costs; predominantly rent. The NAPA and IG studies are critical to the agency's future. Recommendations from these two studies will guide the development of our workforce restructuring initiative.

We intend to design our five-year restructuring plan during fiscal year 2003.The $5 million will be dedicated to anticipated resource needs to carry out management decisions resulting from the NAPA and IG studies. We anticipate resource requirements to support the full range of staffing adjustments, including retirement counseling, lump sum payments, pay adjustments, training, permanent change of duty station and transition assistance. The request also includes estimated funds to establish a national call center to begin to relocate and downsize offices as we expand our telecommuting workforce. Finally, the request includes funds to improve our information technology network infrastructure targeted to the increase in the number of employees working from mobile locations.

As part of our strategic human capital efforts, maintaining a productive and motivated workforce, compels us to continue a promotion and reward program to retain and maintain a productive and motivated workforce. More costly rent at many agency offices has placed additional strains on the agency's budget. For example, we experienced a doubling of the annual rent cost when we had to replace our New York District Office in fiscal year 2002 after the terrorist attack. The requested increase will allow us to begin restructuring the agency and achieving much needed reductions in operational costs.

Agency management will review the options and recommendations of the NAPA and IG studies and complete detailed transition plans, resource requirements and estimated savings for the five-year period in fiscal year 2003. Full implementation of the plan in fiscal year 2004 will revitalize the agency and enable.us to more effectively and efficiently implement the President's Management Agenda the agency's new Five-Point Plan, and other key administration and EEOC initiatives.

Technology Requirements and Enhancements

The EEOC requests $5.8 million in technology funds to enhance the agency's ability to provide improved electronic services to the public. This increase will support the Agency's National Call Center effort, which is a component of the Agency's restructuring initiative. This project is sponsored by EEOC's Office of Field Programs. This increase will also initiate an investment in telework and remote access requirements.

Updated technology is critical for making our employees as productive as possible, especially when the organization will be restructured over the next five years. We must use technology to conduct business differently as we move toward greater interaction with our customers, increased use of telework arrangements and remote access, and transformation of our business processes to improve efficiency.

EEOC is already designing various ways for the public to electronically communicate with the agency. For example, we are developing an approach for charging parties to provide on-line information about allegations of discrimination before filing a charge. We will explore other approaches to secure the exchange of information electronically and participate in the Administration's e-government E-Authentication initiative.

EEOC's Five-Year Information Technology Strategic Plan, on page 63 , outlines an ambitious agenda for improving business processes, program efficiency, and customer service. The overall objectives of the Information Technology Strategic Plan are linked to achievement of our Mission and our GPRA Strategic Goals. The IT plan will:

• Increase productivity by providing Commission employees with standardized, state-of-the-art desktop tools;
• Facilitate electronic communication, information sharing and collaboration between offices by maintaining a sound telecommunications infrastructure;
• Facilitate research and promote information exchange with our external customers by leveraging the Internet and information on the Web;
• Manage the EEOC's corporate information by developing integrated information systems;
• Improve work efficiency and customer service by implementing electronic government initiatives (e-gov) and complying with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA); and,
• Ensure the reliability, availability, and integrity of our data by safeguarding the agency's information resources.

 

 

The EEOC's technology program over the past several years established a sound technology infrastructure in areas covered by the first three objectives above. This infrastructure includes modern desktop tools, local area networks, wide area communications, Internet access, and intranet resources. Building on these achievements and the solid foundation they created, we shifted our technology efforts to focus on the next three objectives above. We are developing and deploying integrated information systems for managing agency data, implementing e-gov initiatives to improve public services and access to government information, and safeguarding agency systems and data.

 

 

The requested additional technology funds in fiscal year 2004 will support the implementation and continuation of several vital agency technology initiatives:

• Begin development of a subsystem of our Integrated Mission System (IMS) to support charge processing at our state and local Fair Employment Practices Agency (FEPA) government partner locations. The IMS, which is being implemented in EEOC offices in FY 2003, consolidates the Agency's charge intake, investigation, mediation, litigation, and outreach functions into a single shared information system. EEOC must deploy the IMS to FEPAs in order to provide the same functionality to our partners and shutdown the operation of the legacy Charge Data System.
• Continue to implement a new document management system. EEOC's document management system is a core component of our Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) plan, because it serves as the foundation for managing, storing, securing, and retrieving electronic documents in addition to paperwork reduction. Also, the document management system will greatly improve the protection of our information. As our paper files are converted to an electronic format, this critical information can be easily backed up, stored off-site and recovered in the event of a disaster.
• Implement a National Call Center to provide a less costly but more effective and efficient system for handling calls received by the agency from members of the public. EEOC receives approximately 2 million calls annually from members of the public seeking information on the equal employment opportunity laws. This initiative will ensure consistent service and quality of information provided to the public by having a highly trained staff in one location, provide the capacity for better workload distribution and management, allow better tracking of trends in consumer concerns, and relieve individual field offices of routine inquiries. To ensure a single point of data entry across systems, the call center management software may be required to interface with several of the EEOC's information technology systems.
• Provide the technology required to more fully support telework and remote access requirements. The EEOC has instituted a telework program which allow certain employees in various positions and job titles to work at alternate locations. Additionally, EEOC staff are increasingly involved in on-site investigations, hearings, discovery, and mediation events that require the ability to remotely reach EEOC information and services. Funding will allow EEOC to acquire additional laptops as well as the telecommunications and security infrastructure required to initiate full implementation of our telework and restructuring initiatives.
• Begin the migration of our underlying desktop and network infrastructure to the Microsoft® platform to improve communication and data exchange with the agency's customers and partners. We currently use the Corel®/Novell® platform for our desktop and network infrastructure. The use of this platform has been identified as a potential risk since it is different from the technology used by the majority of individuals, companies and agencies in the public and private sectors. This environment impacts our ability to efficiently integrate/interface with external and off-the-shelf systems, communicate easily with the public, implement stronger configuration management policies, and locate vendor training for our employees.

 

 

In addition to the initiatives above, the additional funding will allow us to implement video conferencing to facilitate remote meetings and expand our telecommunications capabilities; implement e-commerce and activity-based costing solutions; and provide for net increases to recurring operational maintenance expenses.

 

 

Table 11: Five-Year Information Resources Management Strategic Plan

EEOC's Five-Point Plan: EEOC as a Model Workplace

The Five-Point Plan is a strategic framework for the EEOC to fulfill our Vision to–

• Become the world's preeminent civil rights employment law agency and serve as the standard bearer for excellence in outreach, enforcement and professionalism.

 

 

The fifth point in the Plan is for us to be a model workplace. The integration of Strategic Goal 3 elements–workforce restructuring (Section 1, above), technological improvements (Section 2, above) and, in particular, the President's Management Agenda (Section 4, below)– will enable us to achieve that goal. The President's Management Agenda is the roadmap for us to become a model workplace and make important enhancements to our internal operations to improve service to the public.

 

 

President's Management Agenda

The President's Management Agenda (PMA) consists of five areas designed to address critical management issues in the federal government and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of agencies to deliver services to the American public. The five areas are: Strategic Management of Human Capital, Competitive Sourcing, Improved Financial Performance, Expanded Electronic Government and Budget and Performance Integration. A key focus for the agency in Strategic Goal 3 is the implementation of programs to address all of these areas. Some of these programs have been initiated in fiscal year 2002 and will continue to build throughout fiscal year 2003 into fiscal year 2004. The studies already underway by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and the EEOC's Office of Inspector General (IG) will be critical components of agency plans to revitalize us, making us more effective and efficient.

In fiscal year 2004, we will take important steps to achieve our PMA goals:

a. Strategic Management of Human Capital

The NAPA Workforce Restructuring study, and the agency's 5-year restructuring plan that will be developed from it, will have profound influences on our strategic use of our most valuable asset–our employees. Over the 5-year period starting in fiscal year 2003, as resources are realigned for improved customer service, we will be able to identify many priority initiatives to improve our human resources systems, develop employee knowledge and skill in critical aspects of our work, and implement programs designed to improve workforce effectiveness.

Starting in fiscal year 2003 and continuing into fiscal year 2004, we have identified several areas we can focus on that will begin to strategically address some of the human capital issues. We have two measures that focus on linking our strategic goals and objectives to employee performance and to broaden the use of electronic distance-learning to improve employee knowledge and skills, while conserving current resources until the full benefits of workforce restructuring can be realized through fiscal year 2007.

b. Competitive Sourcing

We are committed to competitive sourcing as part of the overall workforce restructuring plan and our FAIR Act submission. A study in the agency's finance and human resources' functions was completed in fiscal year 2002 and is being reviewed and consolidated into NAPA's workforce restructuring study. For fiscal year 2004, we will address the sourcing of a percentage of positions we have identified.

c. Improved Financial Performance

The most important financial criterion for this area of the PMA is an unqualified opinion on the agency's financial audit. We are committed to receiving this opinion in fiscal year 2004 for our fiscal year 2003 financial statements.

d. Expanded Electronic Government

Improvements in the agency's technological infrastructure will enable it to proceed with major initiatives to provide more extensive electronic government. The discussion of our technology plans are reviewed in Section 2, above.

e. Budget and Performance Integration

We have implemented a process to bring budgeting and performance elements together. We will implement a new GPRA Strategic Plan on October 1, 2003, and will cover the implementation of this fiscal year 2004 performance budget. We are also reevaluating our planning approaches to design more results-based performance measures in the future. For this fiscal year 2004 budget request and annual performance plan, we have initiated this approach and focused on better measures to assess the results of our programs and accomplishments. Finally, for the first time we have tied funding to specific goals in our GPRA Strategic Plan. In the next few years, we will allocate funding at more detailed levels to enhance our budget and performance integration effort under the PMA.

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: Enhance Agency Effectiveness

Strategic Objective 3.1.

Enhance staff capabilities and substantive knowledge to improve work processes and job functions through training, partnership, team-based approaches, and customer-based principles.

Strategic Objective 3.2.

Provide policy direction and guidance to achieve all Strategic Goals.

Strategic Objective 3.3.

Instill a knowledge base by attaining and maintaining a robust technological competency and through research, analysis and evaluation of organizational components, procedures and processes.

The following five performance measures for fiscal year 2004 will enhance our effectiveness in the three strategic objectives under Strategic Goal 3. These measures represent a step towards more effective, results-based performance tied to agency resources.

The indicator for this measure is revised from the statement used in our fiscal years 2002 and 2003 GPRA Annual Performance Plans to simplify the terminology and more accurately identify the results expected. The purpose for the measure has not changed, because the agency is still expected to achieve positive results by paying vendors more efficiently.

Our organizational values speak to our philosophy in serving all of our customers–external and internal. We are committed to ensuring that the resources entrusted to us are well managed and wisely used. These Strategic Goal 3 performance measures are designed to make a significant contribution towards accomplishing goals in several important areas.

VI. EEOC REVOLVING FUND

There is hereby established in the Treasury of the United States a revolving fund to be known as the "EEOC Education, Technical Assistance and Training Revolving Fund" (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the "Fund") to pay the cost (including administrative and personnel expenses) of providing education, technical assistance, and training relating to the laws administered by the Commission. Monies in the Fund shall be available without fiscal year limitation to the Commission for such purpose.

Summary of Financing

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION EEOC Education, Technical Assistance, and Training Revolving Fund (Dollar amounts in thousands)

 

 

The Revolving Fund must maintain monies from the unobligated balance at the end of each fiscal year. These funds cover anticipated expenses for a portion of the next fiscal year until new revenues are received beginning in approximately May; for example, to pay for hotels, printing, other contractual obligations, and the Revolving Fund staff salaries and benefits. Also, funds are needed to develop new products and enhance existing products and services.

 

 

Education, Technical Assistance and Training Revolving Fund

The EEOC offers specialized and in-depth training services through its Revolving Fund. In 1992, Congress passed the EEOC Education, Technical Assistance and Training Revolving Fund Act (P.L. 102-411). Under the Act, we develop and deliver comprehensive and specialized external education, technical assistance and training relating to the laws we enforce. This authority permits us to charge a fee for the costs associated with the delivery of Revolving Fund programs. Programs offered through the Revolving Fund augment agency activities that are provided to the public free of charge.

During fiscal year 2002, we conducted 426 fee-based training events under the auspices of the Revolving Fund, attended by more than 24,000 persons. During fiscal year 2004, as in prior years, we will continue to provide a wide variety of high quality Technical Assistance Program Seminars (TAPS), primarily one day in length for private and federal employers in diverse geographical locations around the country. Also, we will continue to schedule numerous one day to one week courses on equal employment opportunity (EEO) counseling, investigations and other topics for federal employees nationally. In fiscal year 2004, we estimate that we will conduct at least 480 Revolving Fund activities, including 55 TAPS events, for private and federal sector employers.

GPRA Annual Performance Plan Measures: The Revolving Fund

STRATEGIC GOAL 2

Promote Equal Opportunity in Employment Through Education and Technical Assistance.

Strategic Objective 2.1.

Encourage and facilitate voluntary compliance with equal employment opportunity laws among employers and employer groups in the private and federal sectors.

Strategic Objective 2.2.

Increase knowledge about individual rights under equal employment opportunity laws among the public and employee groups.

 

 

For fiscal year 2004, we will shift our focus from measuring performance of the Revolving Fund by counting the number of events and the number of attendees to a more results-based approach in conjunction with a new and similar measure for non-fee based outreach, education and technical assistance programs (See Strategic Goal 2 GPRA performance measures, page 51). The performance measure focuses on the critical aspect of the activities conducted by our outreach efforts–the way attendees to our events use the information they receive in a workplace setting. We intend to explore this aspect of our efforts in fiscal year 2004 for the first time. Since the Revolving Fund activities are a vital part of our overall outreach, education and technical assistance efforts, this performance measure is included under the prevention goal–Strategic Goal 2.

 

 

Object Class Schedule: EEOC Education, Technical Assistance, and Training Revolving Fund

EEOC Education, Technical Assistance, and Training Revolving Fund REQUIREMENTS BY OBJECT CLASS (Dollar amounts in thousands*)

 

 

VII. VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF DATA

 

 

The EEOC has made significant progress in implementing its 5-year technology plan, which has been critical for improving the agency's data collection and verification programs. Data accuracy and reliability are necessary for effective planning and resource allocation. The agency's major front-line programs in the private and federal sector require accurate enforcement data and financial and human resources information to assess our operations and performance results.

Over the past few years, we have designed and implemented several important, new technology-based systems to ensure more accurate and easily verifiable data. For example, a desktop software program provides EEOC investigators and attorneys with a quick and easy way to view employers' EEO-1 reports, which are surveys of private sector companies employment profiles by race, sex and national origin. The desktop program also enables our employees to compare this employer information to other employers in the same industry, to employers within a geographic area, or to profiles in the census.

We have also implemented several new data systems that enhance our budget and performance integration efforts. A new personnel system was implemented in September 2001 to provide more accurate information on our employees and provide enhanced technological capabilities for utilizing this information. The Federal Personnel/Payroll System (FPPS) is maintained by the Department of Interior's National Business Center. We also implemented our new, Integrated Financial Management System in October 2001. The system is also operated and maintained by the Department of the Interior National Business Center. It has core accounting, budget execution and project cost accounting modules. This system provides centralized access to a single, integrated corporate-wide financial database and provides a mechanism for consolidated financial reporting. Two additional modules, procurement (IDEAS) and fixed assets/property accounting, were implemented in fiscal year 2002. A third module, travel management, will be operational at pilot locations during FY 2002 and implemented nationwide in FY 2003.

Finally, during fiscal year 2002, we drafted our Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility and Integrity of Information Disseminated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The guidelines become effective on October 1, 2002. They describe the EEOC's policy and procedures for reviewing and substantiating the quality of information and data before it is disseminated to the public. They also provide an administrative mechanism for individuals to seek and obtain correction of the disseminated information.

Under the guidelines, we will be able to strengthen our verification and validation procedures to improve the quality of the agency's data. The guidelines require agencies to ensure that the information is protected from unauthorized access or revision. In addition, before releasing the information or data to the public, the guidelines require us to review the information and its usefulness to intended users, so that it is serving the public by providing the information needed, displayed in a way they can use; ensure that the substance of the information is accurate, reliable and unbiased; and, ensure that the information is presented accurately, clearly, completely, in an unbiased way, and in context for proper interpretation of the information.

We will continue to build on the guidelines throughout fiscal years 2003 and 2004 to ensure the quality, usefulness, objectivity and integrity of our information and our ability to verify and validate our information and data.

VIII. PROGRAM EVALUATION

Program evaluations are valuable tools in determining whether agency programs are meeting their stated goals. As the Administration and Congress continue to stress measurable results and accountability, program evaluations take on an important role in assessing results and justifying resources. The EEOC conducts several evaluation activities to inform management of the effectiveness of the agency's programs. The Commission monitors the progress and performance of its programs and goals, through these evaluation activities.

We have review processes for major program areas to foster improved operations and compliance with applicable rules and regulations. We conduct on-site reviews of federal agencies' Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)/affirmative employment programs, substantial weight reviews of some of the charges processed by our state and local agencies' partners, and reviews/studies of EEOC programs and operations. For example, a key element of our enforcement efforts is Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). ADR is expanding into several areas of the agency's work, including the private and federal sector programs, and within our own EEO and grievance processes. It is vital to know and understand the results achieved through these efforts. We will conduct a study of specific ADR initiatives to measure customer satisfaction, the timeliness of actions, and the costs and benefits of the program. Another example is that we conduct regular reviews of our front-line charge processing work.

For our outreach, education and technical assistance programs for employers, employees and stakeholder groups, we assess the validity of the data results in several ways. Outreach results are reviewed and checked against plans at least quarterly, using data and reports submitted by field offices. Evaluation forms completed by participants are reviewed and evaluated to assess the results of fee-based training under the Revolving Fund. In the future, we intend to survey a sample of participants at the end of an event and/or six months later to determine the value of the training provided.

The agency's independent Office of the Inspector General conducts audits, reviews, and evaluations, and recommends program improvements. These reviews, as well as those conducted by the General Accounting Office, are important sources of information for improving program effectiveness and operations. In addition, we are exploring more effective ways to use the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act to evaluate program results. These and other endeavors aid in our efforts to measure program effectiveness and service delivery.

IX. APPENDIX–General Statement of Laws

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 253, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) as amended, and became operational on July 2, 1965. The Commission has five members, no more than three of whom shall be of the same political party. The members are appointed by the President, by and with the consent of the Senate, for rotating 5-year terms. The President designates one member to serve as Chairman and one member to serve as Vice Chairman. The General Counsel is also appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of 4 years.

The Commission has been charged with promoting equal opportunity in employment by enforcing the federal civil rights employment laws through administrative and judicial actions, and education and technical assistance. We fulfill our mission through the implementation of a vigorous law enforcement program, complemented by proactive prevention through conducting an outreach program to provide information, guidance and technical assistance to help prevent discrimination from occurring.

Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin by public and private employers with 15 or more employees, employment agencies, and labor organizations with 15 or more members.

Pursuant to Section 709(c) of Title VII, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires the filing of periodic reports by public and private employers and labor organizations providing data on the makeup of their workforces or membership by gender and racial/ethnic categories. The data are also used by other federal, state and local agencies charged with enforcement of equal employment opportunity laws, and in aggregate form by non-government organizations and researchers concerned with equal employment opportunity.

Title VII authorizes the Commission to file suit in federal District Court, in order to achieve compliance with Title VII if it is unable to achieve a remedy through conciliation. If the case involves a state or local government, the Commission will refer it to the Attorney General, who may file suit in Federal Court.

EEOC also enforces the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967, and the Equal Pay Act (EPA). The ADEA protects workers age 40 and older from discrimination in hiring, discharge, pay, promotions, fringe benefits, and other aspects of employment by employers having 20 or more employees. The Equal Pay Act prohibits gender-based discrimination in the payment of wages to men and women performing substantially equal work in the same establishment. The Commission receives and investigates charges of discrimination in these areas and makes findings of "violation" or "no violation" and may file suit in Federal District Court if it is unable to achieve voluntary resolution of violations through conciliation.

Section 717 of Title VII, Section 15 of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, bar discrimination by federal agencies on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, and disability. These sections provide the basis for Commission oversight responsibility for the procedures used by federal departments and agencies in processing internal complaints of discrimination. In addition, the Commission has appellate jurisdiction to review final decisions of departments or agencies on discrimination complaints upon the request of the complainant. It is also responsible for ensuring that federal department and agencies maintain programs of equal employment opportunity. Further, under Executive Order 12067, the Commission provides leadership and coordination to all federal department and agencies' programs enforcing federal statutes, executive orders, regulations, and policies which require equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. Coordination is provided to eliminate conflict, competition, duplication, and inconsistency in these programs and to improve their effectiveness. All federal departments and agencies are required to cooperate with and assist the Commission in performing these functions and are required to furnish the Commission with such reports and information as it may require.

On July 26, 1990, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) became law. The ADA became effective on July 26, 1992, for employers with 25 or more employees and on July 26, 1994, for employers with 15 -24 employees. This legislation provides a clear and comprehensive mandate for enforcing the laws prohibiting discrimination in employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. EEOC is responsible for ensuring compliance with Title I of this statute and in coordination with the Attorney General, for providing technical assistance to those with rights and responsibilities under the Act.

The Commission, through its field and headquarters offices, is responsible for receiving and investigating charges of employment discrimination under the various laws it enforces. Individual Commissioners may initiate charges based on information suggesting that the law has been violated. If the Commission decides after investigating that reasonable cause exists to believe that a violation has occurred, remedial relief is sought through the process of conciliation.

 

This page was last modified on July 29, 2003

 

 

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