EEOC To Hold Public Commission Meeting On ‘Repositioning For New Workplace Realities'

September 8 All-Day Meeting to Focus on Securing Continued Effectiveness

The next open meeting of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will take place on Monday, September 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., in the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Conference Room (9th Floor), at agency headquarters located at 1801 L Street, N.W. The all-day public Commission Meeting will examine trends and issues driving the need for organizational change and customer service improvements at the nation's premier civil rights enforcement agency.

The purpose of the meeting is to gather input and feedback from a wide-range of invited agency stakeholders, government reform experts, and EEOC employees from field and headquarters offices on ways the Commission can enhance customer service and respond organizationally to:

• Demographic shifts in the workplace;
• A new business environment and dramatically altered workplace trends;
• The impact of technology;
• Changing customer needs;
• The agency's fiscal responsibilities; and
• An agency infrastructure largely unmodified since the late 1970's.

"Today the EEOC carries out its responsibilities to prevent and eradicate employment discrimination against a backdrop of factors that make the American workplace far more complex and challenging than it has ever been in the agency's 39-year history," said Commission Chair Cari M. Dominguez. "Shifting demographics, an explosion of technological innovations, globalization, and heightened security requirements have converged to require the Commission to be more flexible and adaptable in its enforcement role."

Chair Dominguez added: "To secure our continued effectiveness in rooting out employment discrimination, the agency must seek ways to improve our delivery of services and operational efficiency under these new workplace realities."

The morning session of the meeting (9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) will open with remarks from Chair Dominguez, Vice Chair Naomi C. Earp, and Commissioners Paul Steven Miller and Leslie E. Silverman, followed by testimony of government reform experts from the public and private sectors as well as the EEOC's Inspector General and other agency staff. Included among the morning panelists will be representatives of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Partnership for Public Service, and National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA).

The afternoon session of the meeting (2:00-5:00 p.m.) will feature testimony from representatives of key stakeholder groups, including The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (an umbrella group of major civil rights advocacy organizations), The Society for Human Resource Management, the National Employment Lawyers Association, and the Equal Employment Advisory Council (which represents Fortune 500 companies). The Commission will also hear from EEOC field staff representatives and the agency's union (the National Council of EEOC Locals No. 216). Chair Dominguez will be available to take questions from the news media at the conclusion of the meeting.

EEOC enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Equal Pay Act; Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits employment discrimination against people with disabilities in the private sector and state and local governments; prohibitions against discrimination affecting individuals with disabilities in the federal government; and sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Further information about the Commission is available on its Web site at www.eeoc.gov.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Seating in the meeting room is limited to approximately 125 people and a limited number of seats will be reserved for reporters. Two overflow rooms will have closed circuit television of the meeting – the 10th Floor Conference Room and the 1st Floor Training Room. Members of the public are requested to arrive before 9:00 a.m. for the morning session and/or 1:30 p.m. for the afternoon session to allow sufficient time to complete entry procedures prior to the meeting. Photo identification is required for entry. Any matters not discussed or concluded may be carried over to a later meeting. The Commission agenda is subject to revision. Please call (202) 663-7100 (voice) or (202) 663-4074 (TTY) on the day of the meeting to confirm the schedule.

This page was last modified on September 3, 2003.