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Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Federal Sector - Figure Data

**Figure 1: ADR deficiencies at Federal agencies, FY 2019**
Type of Deficiency	Number of Deficiencies
E.3	1
E.3a	1
E.3.b	3
E.3.c	1
E.3.d	1
E.3.e	3
E.3.f	3

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

**Figure 2a: Average pre-complaint offers, rejections, and acceptances of ADR by agency size, FY 2019**
	Small	Midsize	Large
Average Completed counselings	4	86	1972
Average Counselings offered ADR	1	57	1814
Average Offers rejected by individual	0	34	668
Average Completed counselings accepted	1	23	1145

**Figure 2b: Average pre-complaint offers, rejections, and acceptances of ADR by agency size, FY 2019**
	Small	Midsize	Large
Average Offer Rate	25.0%	70.2%	81.1%
Average Participation Rate	25.0%	23.0%	40.4%

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

**Figure 3a: ADR pre-complaint resolutions during the informal counseling phase by agency size, FY 2019**
	Small	Midsize	Large
Closures	1	23	1145
Resolutions	1	9	775
Settlements	1	4	223
Withdrawals	0	5	553

**Figure 3b: ADR pre-complaint resolutions during the informal counseling phase by agency size, FY 2019**
	Small	Midsize	Large
Resolution Rate	25.0%	32.5%	47.5%
Settlement Rate	25.0%	12.8%	14.8%
Withdrawal Rate	0.0%	19.7%	32.7%

Notes: Closures are the total number of complaints closed during the fiscal year. Settlements agreements are the total voluntary agreements between agencies and complainants during the fiscal year. Resolutions are the sum of the total of the number of settlements and the total number of cases closed using other conflict resolution techniques (e.g., peer review, Ombuds, etc.) during the fiscal year. Withdrawals are the total number of complaints closed by complainants who chose not to continue participating in the complaint process during the fiscal year. Because complaint activity often spans different fiscal years, involves hearings, and involves resolutions other than settlements, the number of resolutions does not equal the number of settlements plus the number of withdrawals. For these same reasons, closures are not the sum of resolutions, settlements, and withdrawals.

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

**Figure 4a: ADR formal complaint closures, offers, and participation by agency size, FY 2019**
	Small	Midsize	Large
Total complaint closures	25	1066	11066
Complaint closures offered ADR	1	99	2596
Offers rejected by complainant	0	17	1745
Complaint closures accepted	1	82	851

**Figure 4b: ADR formal complaint closures, offers, and participation by agency size, FY 2019**
	Small	Midsize	Large
Offer Rate	12.5%	8.7%	35.4%
Participation Rate	12.5%	7.2%	10.6%

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

**Figure 5a: ADR complaint resolutions during the formal phase by agency size, FY 2019**
	Small	Midsize	Large
Closures	1	63	851
Total resolutions	1	35	374
Settlements	1	27	339
Withdrawals	0	8	35

**Figure 5b: ADR complaint resolutions during the formal phase by agency size, FY 2019**
	Small	Midsize	Large
Resolution rate	20.0%	64.0%	44.7%
Settlement rate	20.0%	40.4%	41.8%
Withdrawal rate	0.0%	23.6%	2.9%

Notes: Closures are the total number of complaints closed during the fiscal year. Settlements agreements are the total voluntary agreements between agencies and complainants during the fiscal year. Resolutions are the sum of the total of the number of settlements and the total number of cases closed using other conflict resolution techniques (e.g., peer review, Ombuds, etc.) during the fiscal year. Withdrawals are the total number of complaints closed by complainants who chose not to continue participating in the complaint process during the fiscal year. Because complaint activity often spans different fiscal years, involves hearings, and resolutions other than settlements, the number of resolutions does not equal the number of settlements plus the number of withdrawals. For these same reasons, closures are not the sum of resolutions, settlements, and withdrawals.

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

**Figure 6: Self-reported fundamental ADR program elements**
Question	Yes	No
Agency encourages ADR?	95%	5%
ADR for informal and formal phases?	100%	0%
Managers and supervisors required to participate?	86%	14%
Management officials required to participate?	76%	24%
Employees encouraged to use ADR?	95%	5%
Settlement authority available during ADR?	95%	5%
RMO cannot be settlement authority?	81%	19%
ADR program evaluated annually?	76%	24%
ADR policy on public website?	67%	33%
ADR policy on internal website?	71%	29%

Note: RMO = Responsible Management Official. ADR = Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

**Figure 7: Frequency of ADR policy and procedure updates**
Annually	19.50%
Every 2 years	0.00%
Every 3 years	14.30%
Every 4 years	9.50%
No set schedule	57.10%

Notes: ADR = Alternative Dispute Resolution. “No set schedule” indicates that the agency’s policy was only updated in response to outside pressures or had not been updated for a very long time.

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

**Figure 8: Perceived effectiveness of ADR programs by survey participants**
Not at all effective	5%
Somewhat ineffective	0%
Neither effective nor ineffective	5%
Somewhat effective	57%
Highly effective	33%

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.