EEOC TO RECEIVE VICE PRESIDENT'S HAMMER AWARD

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will be presented with the Hammer Award from Vice President Al Gore's National Performance Review (NPR). The award is in recognition of EEOC's nationwide labor-management partnership efforts.

The Hammer Award is Vice President Gore's answer to the $600 hammer of yesterday's government and, symbolically, consists of a $6 hammer, ribbon and a notecard from the Vice President. Bob Stone, Executive Director of NPR, is scheduled to present the award at a ceremony here on Thursday, March 14, 1996, at EEOC headquarters. The award will be accepted by EEOC Chairman Gilbert F. Casellas on behalf of all members of labor-management Partnership Councils located in EEOC offices across the country.

Vice President Gore makes this award to recognize teams who have made significant contributions in support of the President's National Performance Review principles. Those principles include putting customers first, cutting red tape, empowering employees, and getting back to basics.

Consistent with these standards to reinvent government, Chairman Casellas made it a top priority upon his arrival at EEOC in October 1994 to create a labor-management partnership throughout the agency. Through the hard work of labor and management representatives, and the strong involvement of employees in EEOC field offices, the agency succeeded in resolving longstanding labor-management disputes and created Partnership Councils nationwide. As a result of this broad employee participation in the operation of EEOC, the agency is enhancing its ability to serve the public.

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; the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits 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.