FISCAL YEAR 2009 REPORT OF THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION ON ITS ADMINISTRATION OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552

I. Basic Information Regarding Report

1. Name, title, address and telephone number of person to be contacted with questions about the report

   Stephanie D. Garner
   Assistant Legal Counsel/FOIA Public Liaison
   Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
   Office of Legal Counsel
   131 M Street, NE
   Suite 5NW08R
   Washington, D.C. 20507
   (202) 663-4640
   (202) 663-7026 (TTY)
   (202) 663-4639 (fax)
   FOIA@eeoc.gov (e-mail)

2. Electronic address for report: http://www.eeoc.gov/foia/index.html
3. How to obtain a copy of the report in paper form

   A paper copy of the report may be requested by submitting a written request to:

   Stephanie D. Garner
   Assistant Legal Counsel/FOIA Public Liaison
   Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
   Office of Legal Counsel
   131 M Street, NE
   Suite 5NW08R
   Washington, D.C. 20507
   (202) 663-4640
   (202) 663-7026 (TTY)
   (202) 663-4639 (fax)
   FOIA@eeoc.gov (e-mail)

II. How To Make A FOIA Request

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests should be made in accordance with the Commission's regulations at 29 C.F.R. §1610.7. The regulations can be accessed at: https://www.eeoc.gov/foia/foia-resources

1. Names, address, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that receive FOIA requests

   See 29 C.F.R. §1610.4 and the agency's FOIA web page at https://www.eeoc.gov/foia/contact-us for the EEOC FOIA contacts.

2. Brief description of why some requests are not granted

   The majority of fiscal year 2009 FOIA requests received by the Commission were for materials contained in the Commission's investigative case files that involved charges of discrimination filed pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e, et. seq., the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-633, the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d), and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-213. Sections 706(b) and 709(e) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5(b) and 8(e), and §107 of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12117 prohibit Commission employees from making Title VII or ADA charges, conciliation materials, required reports and case file information public. In certain instances, parties to the charge are entitled access to the disclosable portions of the charge file. Examples of non-disclosable material in charge files are discussed in detail in section XII of this report.

III. ACRONYMS, DEFINITIONS, AND EXEMPTIONS

1. Acronyms used in this report:
   1. EEOC – Equal employment Opportunity Commission.
   2. E-FOIA – Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments, 5 U.S.C. § 552, Pub. L. No. 104-231, 110 Stat 3048.
   3. FAQ – frequently asked questions
   4. FTS - FOIA Tracking System. The FTS tracks all incoming FOIA requests and appeals, as well as requests submitted through the Requester Service Center. The FTS also captures information required for the Annual FOIA Report.
2. Definitions of Terms Used in this Report
   1. Administrative Appeal – a request to a federal agency asking that it review at a higher administrative level a FOIA determination made by the agency at the initial request level.
   2. Average Number – the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.
   3. Backlog – the number of requests or administrative appeals that are pending at an agency at the end of the fiscal year that are beyond the statutory time period for a response.
   4. Component - for agencies that process requests on a decentralized basis, a "component" is an entity, also sometimes referred to as an Office, Division, Bureau, Center, or Directorate, within the agency that processes FOIA requests. The FOIA now requires that agencies include in their Annual FOIA Report data for both the agency overall and for each principal component of the agency.
   5. Consultation – the procedure whereby the agency responding to a FOIA request first forwards a record to another agency for its review because that other agency has an interest in the document. Once the agency in receipt of the consultation finishes its review of the record, it responds back to the agency that forwarded it. That agency, in turn, will then respond to the FOIA requester.
   6. Exemption 3 Statute – a federal statute that exempts information from disclosure and which the agency relies on to withhold information under subsection (b)(3) of the FOIA.
   7. FOIA Request – a FOIA request is generally a request to a federal agency for access to records concerning another person (i.e., a "third-party" request), or concerning an organization, or a particular topic of interest. FOIA requests also include requests made by requesters seeking records concerning themselves (i.e., "first-party" requests) when those requesters are not subject to the Privacy Act, such as non-U.S. citizens. Moreover, because all first-party requesters should be afforded the benefit of both the access provisions of the FOIA as well as those of the Privacy Act, FOIA requests also include any first-party requests where an agency determines that it must search beyond its Privacy Act "systems of records" or where a Privacy Act exemption applies, and the agency looks to FOIA to afford the greatest possible access. All requests which require the agency to utilize the FOIA in responding to the requester are included in this Report.

      Additionally, a FOIA request includes records referred to the agency for processing and direct response to the requester. It does not, however, include records for which the agency has received a consultation from another agency. (Consultations are reported separately in Section XII of this Report.)

   8. Full Grant – an agency decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA request.
   9. Full Denial – an agency decision not to release any records in response to a FOIA request because the records are exempt in their entireties under one or more of the FOIA exemptions, or because of a procedural reason, such as when no records could be located.
   10. Median Number – the middle, not average, number. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
   11. Multi-Track Processing – a system in which simple requests requiring relatively minimal review are placed in one processing track and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in one or more other tracks. Requests granted expedited processing are placed in yet another track. Requests in each track are processed on a first in/first out basis.
       1. Expedited Processing – an agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited basis when a requester satisfies the requirements for expedited processing as set forth in the statute and in agency regulations.
       2. Simple Request – a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in its fastest (non-expedited) track based on the low volume and/or simplicity of the records requested.
       3. Complex Request – a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in a slower track based on the high volume and/or complexity of the records requested.
   12. Partial Grant/Partial Denial – in response to a FOIA request, an agency decision to disclose portions of the records and to withhold other portions that are exempt under the FOIA, or to otherwise deny a portion of the request for a procedural reason.
   13. Pending Request or Pending Administrative Appeal – a request or administrative appeal for which an agency has not taken final action in all respects.
   14. Perfected Request – a request for records which reasonably describes such records and is made in accordance with published rules stating the time, place, fees (if any) and procedures to be followed.
   15. Processed Request or Processed Administrative Appeal – a request or administrative appeal for which an agency has taken final action in all respects.
   16. Range in Number of Days – the lowest and highest number of days to process requests or administrative appeals.
   17. Section 83 – refers to Section 83 of the EEOC Compliance Manual Section I which provides for access to relevant case files by charging parties, aggrieved persons on whose behalf a charge has been filed, and entities against whom charges have been filed. 29 C.F.R.§ 1610.17(d).
   18. Time Limits – the time period in the statute for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily twenty working days from receipt of a perfected FOIA request).
3. Concise Descriptions of FOIA Exemptions
   1. Exemption 1 - classified national defense and foreign relations information.
   2. Exemption 2 - internal agency rules and practices.
   3. Exemption 3 - information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law.
   4. Exemption 4 - trade secrets and other confidential business information.
   5. Exemption 5 - inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges.
   6. Exemption 6 - information involving matters of personal privacy.
   7. Exemption 7 - records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, to the extent that the production of those records (A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, (B) would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, (E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or (F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.
   8. Exemption 8 - information relating to the supervision of financial institutions.
   9. Exemption 9 - geological information on wells.

IV. Exemption 3 Statutes

**Note: Since the FY '08 report, Charlotte and the Washington Field Office have become two separate FOIA components. Data for them is reported separately.

V. FOIA Requests

A. Received, Processed and Pending FOIA Requests, both perfected and non-perfected

*Note: Since the FY '08 report Charlotte and the Washington Field Office have become two separate FOIA components. The FY'08 pending FOIAs have been allocated to the two offices accordingly.

V.B.(1) Disposition of FOIA Requests – All Processed Requests

* Note: The figures for total FOIA requests processed in chart V.A. and in this chart fail to match for a variety of reasons including errors in the merge and migration of data from two prior tracking systems to the new FTS system, and the failure to follow uniform business rules for data entry. Specifically, we believe that the 16,912 total for the disposition of processed requests in this chart may result from the double-counting of some requests. Steps are being taken to eliminate this problem in future EEOC FOIA reports.

V.B.(2) Disposition of FOIA Requests – "Other" Reasons for "Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than Exemptions" from Section V. B(1) Chart.

V.B.(3) Disposition of FOIA Requests – number of Times Exemptions Applied

Note: EEOC rarely uses Exemption (b)(7)F) and never uses Exemptions 1, 8 and 9.

VI. ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS OF INITIAL DETERMINATIONS OF FOIA REQUESTS

The EEOC Legal Counsel adjudicates all administrative appeals.

VI.A. Received, Processed and Pending Administrative Appeals

VI.B. Disposition of Administrative Appeals – All Processed Appeals

VI.C.(1) Reasons for Denial on Appeal – Number of Times Exemptions Applied

VI.C.(2) Reasons for Denial on Appeal – Reasons Other than Exemptions

VI.C.(3) Reasons for Denial on Appeal – "Other" Reasons form Section VI, C (2) Chart

VI.C.(4) Response Time for Administrative Appeals

VI.C. (5) Ten Oldest Pending Administrative Appeals

VII. FOIA REQUESTS: RESPONSE TIME FOR PROCESSED AND PENDING REQUESTS

A. Processed Requests – Response Time for All Processed Perfected Requests

VII.B. Processed Requests – Response Time for Perfected Requests in Which Information Was Granted

VII.C. Processed Requests – Response Time in Day Increments for Perfected Requests

Simple Requests

Complex Requests*

Note:* EEOC had no information to report in this chart as FOIA requests are not complex/multi-tracked.

Requests Granted Expedited Processing

VII.D. Pending Requests – All Pending Perfected Requests*

Note:* There are no figures under Complex because EEOC does not multi track its FOIA request data. No data is captured for Expedited Processing because there were no such requests pending at the end of the fiscal year.

VII.E. Pending Requests – Ten Oldest Pending Perfected Requests

VIII. REQUESTS FOR EXPEDITED PROCESSING AND REQUESTS FOR FEE WAIVER

A. Requests for Expedited Processing

Note: There is no data showing the average, median, or number of days to adjudicate a request for a fee waiver or to expedite a request in this fiscal year's report. The data necessary to calculate this information was lost during the migration of EEOC FOIA data from two prior tracking systems to the newly developed agency-wide FTS. Steps have been taken to ensure that this data is captured and included in future EEOC FOIA reports.

VIII.B. Requests for Fee Waiver*

Note: FY '09 data concerning the number of Fee Waivers granted and denied was lost during the migration of data from the two former tracking systems to the recently launched agency-wide FTS. Steps have been taken to ensure that this data is captured and included in future EEOC FOIA reports.

IX. FOIA PERSONNEL AND COSTS

Note: EEOC expended $960 preparing a brief in response to a FOIA lawsuit filed against the Birmingham District Office.

X. FEES COLLECTED FOR PROCESSING REQUESTS

XI. FOIA REGULATIONS

EEOC FOIA regulations can be accessed on the World Wide Web at: https://www.eeoc.gov/foia

XII. BACKLOGS, CONSULTATIONS, AND COMPARISONS

A. Backlogs of FOIA Requests and Administrative Appeals

Note: Headquarters is the only office that processes FOIA appeals.

XII.B. Consultations of FOIA Requests – Received, Processed, and Pending Consultations

XII.C. Consultations on FOIA Requests – Ten Oldest Consultations Received from Other Agencies and Pending at Your Agency

Note: EEOC did not receive any consultations from other agencies during Fiscal Year 2009.

XII.D. Comparison of Numbers of Requests from Previous and Current Annual Report – Requests Received, Processed, and Backlogged

*Note: The FY'08 Annual report combined Charlotte District Office and the Washington Field Office figures. This year's report reflects the calculation of the Washington Field Office on its own.

*Note: The FY'08 Annual report combined Charlotte District Office and the Washington Field Office figures. This years FY'09 report reflects the calculation of the Washington Field Office on its own.

XII.E. Comparison of Numbers of Administrative Appeals from Previous and Current Annual Report – Appeals Received, Processed and Backlogged

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XII.F. Discussion of Other FOIA Activities (Optional)