Welcome to News and Notes, our online journal of selected articles related to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management (OEODM) celebrations, events, and topics of interest to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) community.

Division of Complaints Management and Resolution

(L/R) Dawn Henderson, Michael Chew, Selina Lee
Janet Gabriel, Victor Canino, Sonia Gaskin,
Jerry Garmany, Chinara Brown

When Selina Lee became director of the Complaints Management and Resolution Division (DCMR) in September 2002, she faced many formidable challenges. She inherited a backlog of EEO complaints and an undersized five-member staff. Then, in 2003, as a result of a policy change, the DCMR became the central point for processing all NIH EEO complaints, informal and formal. In the wake of that change, the DCMR also was responsible for providing leadership and guidance to all the NIH ICs on the NIH discrimination complaints process.

As a result of the restructuring of the NIH EEO program in October 2004, the DCMR staff was increased to eight employees, most of whom had limited experience processing EEO complaints. Ms. Lee again successfully expanded the knowledge base of the new staff.

To help build team unity, she immediately regrouped staff assignments and took on the role of a diagnostic consultant to see how she could make her staff a highly performing one. By applying her expertise in organizational theory, Ms. Lee was successful in transforming her group into one that now delivers high-quality products, friendly service, and outstanding customer value. She formulated NIH policies and standard operating procedures for complaint processing and provided hands-on training to her staff.

Despite the challenges, the DCMR cites numerous accomplishments including:

• 20% decrease in the number of precomplaints filed in FY 2005;
• 48% of cases elected to use Alternative Dispute Resolution, up from 41% in FY 2004 (42% is the federal average);
• 30% of cases using the counseling process ended in settlement or withdrawal;
• Updated sexual harassment prevention policy and procedures, and improved handling of sexual harassment allegations.

The DCMR actively promotes excellent customer service by:

• Notifying the IC Executive Officer and alleged responsible management officials when a precomplaint or formal complaint is filed (if the Aggrieved Person (AP) requests anonymity in the precomplaint stage, the name of the AP is not provided to management);
• Providing IC complaint updates to IC Executive Officers on a monthly basis and maintaining ongoing dialogues with IC officials regarding their concerns;
• Ensuring that EEO information is available to managers, supervisors, and employees;
• Ensuring that the NIH complaints process and related written materials are provided to employees on the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management (OEODM) Web site.

Kudos to the DCMR staff for processing complaints in an efficient and timely manner.

Message from the Director

Managing Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity

Lawrence N. Self

An effective EEO program begins with dedicated employees, willing to work to implement an effective program to combat discrimination. The OEODM Division of Complaints Management and Resolution (DCMR) is such a staff. The staff provides user friendly programs that are equitable to NIH's diverse staff and potential applicants. Under the leadership of Ms. Selina Lee, we have made tremendous strides, and the accomplishments speak well for NIH.

A significant change recently made in complaints processing at the NIH is the new Online Complaint System (OCS). The DCMR developed and implemented a user friendly OCS to assist aggrieved persons with filing precomplaints. The new OCS allows aggrieved persons to file discrimination complaints online from the OEODM Web site. The aggrieved person can logon to http://oeo.od.nih.gov instead of physically visiting the complaints office to initiate a precomplaint. However, the individual still has the option of filing a complaint by completing the intake form and faxing it to 301-402-0994. Walk-ins or scheduled appointments are also welcomed. Posters on the NIH EEO Complaints Process have been placed strategically around the NIH campus. A copy of the poster is on the next page.

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We welcome your ideas and comments about how we may make our EEO News & Notes better. Please forward your input to Jayne E. Callahanhenson, Managing Editor, The Write Team, Institutes and Centers Services Division, OEODM. Ms. Callahanhenson can be reached by telephone on 301-496-7478 (v), 301-451-2290 (TTY), or by email at callahaj@od.nih.gov.