January 31, 2000
 

                                                                                MEMORANDUM
 

TO:                Bureau and Office of Equal Opportunity Officers and Personnel Officers

FROM:          E. Melodee Stith, Director, Office for Equal Opportunity

SUBJECT:     Compliance with Equal Opportunity Directive 1998-10

On July 1, 1998, the Department of the Interior (DOi) issued Equal Opportunity Directive 1998-10 and distributed it to all bureaus and offices. This directive implemented Executive Order 11478, as amended, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in the Federal civilian workforce. The directive also reminds managers to include sexual orientation discrimination as a prohibited practice in all vacancy announcements and in other appropriate materials.

We have reviewed several recent vacancy announcements from all DOl bureaus and offices, and have found that many still fail to include sexual orientation in the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) statements of the announcements. Vacancy announcements from the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, the Minerals Management Service, and the Office of the Inspector General were found to be lacking in compliance with the Departments July 1, 1998 policy.

Our random review of vacancy announcements from the following bureaus and offices were fully inclusive of the new language: Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Surface Mining US. Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, Office of the Secretary, and Office of the Solicitor.  This thoroughness reflects a commitment to EEO in these bureaus and offices.

Please reinforce the requirements of Equal Opportunity Directives 199 8-10 and 1999-4 to the respective EEO and Human Resources personnel in your organization. These directives also require DOI organizations to distribute the process for complaints based on sexual orientation to all employees, post the process on bulletin boards, change standard Equal Opportunity documents to include sexual orientation, and insure that EEO posters, counselors manuals, personnel notices, new employee orientation manuals, and statements of personnel practices and procedures include the new policy on sexual orientation. Every employee needs to know that discrimination based on sexual orientation will not be tolerated.