Encourage and facilitate voluntary compliance with equal employment opportunity laws among employers and employer groups in the private- and federal sectors.
Strategic Goal 2 encompasses strategies and objectives to reach out to both employers and employees. Strategic Objective 2.1. focuses on our outreach, education and technical assistance program for employers and employer stakeholders. Strategic Objective 2.2. covers employees and employee stakeholders. However, both Objectives are often addressed by the same or similar outreach, education or technical assistance events or EEOC published materials.
Strategic Goal 2 recognizes that the best way to eradicate employment discrimination is to not have it occur in the first place. This goal stems from one of the Commission's statutory mandates - to educate employers and the public and provide outreach and technical assistance to facilitate voluntary compliance with the equal employment opportunity laws we enforce.
Outreach, education and technical assistance efforts are an integral part of the Comprehensive Enforcement Program (CEP) strategy. Through these activities we reach a wide spectrum of audiences. As the chart on page 34 demonstrates, in fiscal year 2000, 33.5% of the total audience were representatives of private sector and federal sector employers; 38.0% were employees or representatives of employee advocacy groups; and, 28.5% were members of the general public.
Our activities for Strategic Objective 2.1. include reaching more private sector employers, particularly small employers who may not have the legal or human resources staff to help them fulfill their obligations to maintain a discrimination-free workplace. Also, we are making efforts to provide assistance to federal sector agencies to implement improvements to the new federal sector regulations, since these complaints are handled first in the agency where the individual is employed and only come to EEOC as requests for hearings or appeals.
The agency's private and federal sector outreach and technical assistance efforts provide important information about employment discrimination issues, policy guidance, and employer and employee rights and responsibilities to a broad, diverse audience. Various agency representatives-including the Chairwoman, the Commissioners, the General Counsel and the Legal Counsel-regularly speak to audiences about EEOC programs and policies. The Commission also provides EEOC publications and answers inquiries from requesters.
Preventing employment discrimination is a priority under the CEP. It is the Commission's preferred approach rather than using our limited resources to investigate and litigate charges, because enforcement resources will never be sufficient to fully address the problem of employment discrimination.
Outreach activities benefit employees and employers by increasing awareness of, and voluntary compliance with, EEO laws. One byproduct is a reduction in the number of private sector charges and requests for federal sector hearings and appeals coming to the Commission.
One of the primary mechanisms for providing more specialized and in-depth training services on a fee-basis, is the Revolving Fund program, established in 1992 under the EEOC Education, Technical Assistance and Training Revolving Fund Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-411). The program develops and delivers comprehensive, specialized and tailored education, technical assistance, and training on the laws the Commission enforces. Revolving Fund programs give employees and employers a better understanding of what constitutes unlawful employment discrimination, the evidence required to substantiate discrimination claims, the charge resolution process, and the remedies available for victims of discrimination.
The Revolving Fund program augments the Commission's general outreach, education and technical assistance activities provided at no cost to the public.
Measures
| 1999 | 2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Target | Results | Target | Results | |
| 2.1.1. | The number of consultations with employer stakeholders on operational and legal issues. | 500 | 1,232 | 1,200 | 1,213 |
| 2.1.2. | The number of representatives of private sector and federal sector employers attending technical assistance activities, other than Revolving Fund activities. | 10,000 | 46,500 | At least 46,500. | 49,766 |
| 2.1.3. | The number of Revolving Fund activities conducted for private sector and federal sector employers. | 75 | 292 | 175 | 296 |
| 2.1.4. | Develop and implement an outreach plan for fiscal years 2000-2002 to provide education and technical assistance and to proactively distribute EEOC's education and information materials to small private sector employers and to federal sector employers. | Develop plan. | Plan developed. | Implement plan activities for FY2000. | Implemented FY2000 activities. |
| 2.1.5. | The number of on-site evaluations of federal agency EEO programs conducted. | X | X | 14 | 20 |
X=the stated measure is not applicable in the fiscal year.
As shown in the table above and discussed below, EEOC met or exceeded all of its goals for outreach to employers.
We exceeded this measure.
For the second year in a row, the Commission maintained a high level of activity in consulting with employer stakeholders on operational and legal issues. Consultations were held with a variety of groups, including stakeholder advisory councils and individual employer organizations, and through special stakeholder "input" meetings. In addition, the Commission consulted with organizations representing small businesses in its continuing efforts to reach this important constituency.
We exceeded this measure.
Again, the Commission exceeded this outreach measure, after substantially increasing it from the previous year's target value. Field offices have conducted almost 49,800 technical assistance activities for employers in the private and federal sectors in fiscal year 2000, excluding Revolving Fund activities.These employers represented large, mid-sized and small private employers, as well as federal, State and local government employers and educational institutions.
We exceeded this measure.
The Commission continued its extensive Revolving Fund activities in fiscal year 2000, once again exceeding the goal set.
The agency conducted 296 fee-paid events attended by more than 23,200 people. Revolving Fund programs included 81 Technical Assistance Program Seminars (TAPS), 211 programs tailored for individual private sector employers or federal sector agencies, 3 courses for EEO Counselors and 1 course for external mediators.
We met this measure.
Fiscal year 2000 was the first year implementing the 3-year Outreach Plan developed in fiscal year 1999. The Plan is a joint, collaborative project of three Commission offices representing the private sector enforcement program, federal sector program, and the communications office, which fields thousands of inquiries annually. The Plan is designed to enhance our efforts to reach the employer and employee communities and stakeholders. The Plan supports the Comprehensive Enforcement Program (CEP) concepts throughout the agency to enhance the Commission's prevention efforts. Through the Plan, emerging areas and types of discriminatory behavior at the workplace are identified and employers and employees are briefed on them.
We exceeded this measure.
In fiscal year 2000, we were able to conduct over 40% more on-site evaluations than initially planned. Agency on-site visits are a primary tool for identifying root causes of discrimination and advising agency managers on how to correct them.
We have initiated a comprehensive, strategic enforcement approach to link on-site reviews with analysis of agency data on complaints and other factors, as well as the knowledge our Administrative Judges and Appeals Attorneys have regarding problems in various agencies, and input from stakeholder groups. Technical assistance is offered to agencies and follow-up visits are scheduled after the onsite to ensure that agencies comply with our recommendations.
On-site reviews are used to assist agencies in numerous areas; for example, identifying and addressing underlying problems leading to complaints of employment discrimination; identifying barriers to equal employment opportunities for minorities, women, and people with disabilities; and providing advice and assistance to eliminate these barriers. We also evaluate compliance with the Commission's affirmative employment and EEO complaints processing program requirements under the new federal sector regulation.
Increase knowledge about individual rights under equal employment opportunity laws.
Strategic Objective 2.2. includes outreach, education and technical assistance efforts aimed at employees or prospective employees, and employee stakeholder groups. It is the companion to Strategic Objective 2.1. which addresses the employer community. An informed workforce will be able to distinguish between practices that are unfair- and may not support legal action under employment discrimination laws-and those that are illegal. The Commission's prevention activities provide information to the employee community that can reduce the number of complaints filed with the EEOC. Also, employees can bring concerns to the attention of management that can be resolved before prohibited actions occur.
Thousands of employees, potential employees or the groups that represent them, particularly under-served communities and groups, were reached during fiscal year 2000. Outreach events, including the TAPS events conducted through the Revolving Fund, are available to employees or employee groups.
In addition, eight field offices conducted outreach activities under EEOC's National Origin Task Force effort designed to reach under served groups and communities. Other offices participated in Regional Town Hall meetings sponsored by the President's Advisory Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in different parts of the country.
Our offices made extensive efforts nationwide to reach the employee community, in the same way we reached out to employers. Staff met with employee stakeholders in their communities, conducted training sessions for employee groups, maintained information booths at minority group events to provide information about employment discrimination, and made presentations at conferences or conventions held by stakeholder groups.
Measures
| 1999 | 2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Target | Results | Target | Results | |
| 2.2.1. | The number of consultations with employee stakeholders on operational and legal issues. | 500 | 1,533 | 1,200 | 3,918 |
| 2.2.2. | Develop and implement an outreach plan for fiscal years 2000-2002 to inform under-served constituencies of their rights, and to proactively distribute EEOC's educational and informational materials to employee stakeholders. | Develop plan. | Plan developed. | Implement plan activities for FY2000. | Implemented FY2000 activities. |
X=the stated measure is not applicable in the fiscal year.
We exceeded this measure.
Consultations with employee stakeholders was 4 times higher that the expected target value, primarily as a result of participation in large scale town hall events in major cities. EEOC's participation in these activities jump-started outreach activities under the Comprehensive Enforcement Program to reach increasing numbers of ethnic minorities and language-diverse populations captured in the recent decennial census.
We met this measure.
As we noted for Measure 2.1.4. (see page 39), we successfully implemented the outreach plan for fiscal year 2000.
This page was last modified on May 3, 2001.
