Another Step Forward
The Chicago District Office settled a suit against Carl Buddig & Co., a processor of meats and deli products, alleging that defendant denied employment to African Americans because of their race and segregated women into lower paying jobs. The consent decree provides $2.5 million in monetary relief, requires that defendant exercise its best efforts to assure that the race and sex of its hires reflect the make-up of its applicant pool, and requires that during the 3-year term of the decree defendant fill production positions on an alternate basis between interested claimants and other applicants.
Our goal is to ensure that the principles and standards we promote in the workplace are readily apparent in our own operations. We work to achieve this goal through occupational and leadership development, performance management programs, the use of enabling technologies, and a flexible and adaptable work environment conducive to teamwork. We are building an organization committed to providing opportunities for EEOC employees to grow professionally. We are also developing programs and practices worthy of emulation.
The PMA provides the roadmap for this final element of the Chair's Five-Point Plan. The PMA addresses important enhancements to internal agency operations and interaction with the public. The integration of the Five-Point Plan and other Administration and agency initiatives will help build a model workplace where we can effectively and efficiently accomplish two broad outcomes in an environment conducive to good employment practices: improve organizational performance and efficiency and instill a climate of respect, service, and responsiveness.
| Organizational Excellence Performance Scorecard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total FY 2004 Investment: Allocated to Strategic Objectives 1 and 2 | |||
| Total Measures | Targets Met | Targets Partially Met | Targets Not Met |
| 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
Our progress toward achieving the objectives set forth in our Organizational Excellence performance goal is guided by the PMA. The PMA identifies five areas that require improvement throughout the Federal government. Our goal is to achieve a green rating on the scorecard in all categories. Our efforts to achieve green in each PMA area are discussed below and in the Inspector General's (IG's) Summary of Significant Management Challenges.
The thrust of the human capital initiative is not simply having a number of employees, but having the right number, in the right place, with the right skills, at the right time. Realizing the vision of a fair and inclusive workplace requires an agency workforce that can effectively handle the complexities of enforcement, litigation, mediation, and prevention related to employment discrimination. Attaining that workforce is highlighted in Measures 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 under our Organizational Excellence Strategic Objective. We introduced a performance management system for Senior Executive Service staff, managers, and supervisors to obtain better alignment between individual efforts and EEOC strategy. We also implemented performance management for managers and supervisors. An inter-office workgroup began an effort to integrate and expand agency-wide workforce planning. A human capital strategic plan was drafted, together with outlines of priorities to be achieved over the next five years.
We have consistently identified commercial and inherently governmental inventories throughout the Commission. In our five-year competitive sourcing plan, we have included planned competitions for information technology desktop support and applications training, human resource record processing, management and staff training, and Federal operations case file administration.
During FY 2003, EEOC had its first official audit of our financial statements and received a qualified opinion. The auditors rendered a qualified opinion on the balance sheet because the estimate for future workers' compensation payment liability was material to the financial statements and was not actuarially based. In addition, there was a material weakness in the financial reporting process and a reportable condition involving the allocation of non-direct costs in the managerial cost accounting process. We took steps this year to resolve these findings so we could receive an unqualified opinion on our FY 2004 financial statements. We are planning to replace our financial system and implement the e-Travel software across the agency.
EEOC Fights Religious Discrimination
The San Francisco District Office settled a Title VII lawsuit against Barber Dodge and Fairfield Toyota, alleging that defendants subjected seven Charging Parties to national origin and religious discrimination. The Charging Parties were called "terrorists" and "thieves" and ridiculed because of the color of their skin, their Afghan national origin and their Muslim faith. The lawsuit also alleged that claimants were either discharged or constructively discharged in retaliation for complaining of harassment. The Charging Parties will receive $550,000 in monetary relief.
Over the past several years, we have completed several major information technology E-gov projects that automate internal processes, reduce paperwork burden, integrate data, and allow the agency to work more efficiently with existing resources.
In FY 2004, EEOC deployed an online registration and sales system, which provides the public, businesses and other government agencies with the ability to obtain educational information, training materials, and register and pay for EEOC seminars over the Internet. In addition, we expanded our Document Management System (DMS) from a single application to three production applications and began converting our Federal appellate case files into a structured, electronic format within the DMS. In FY 2005, we will implement a web-based tool to assist the public in determining if their employment discrimination concerns fall within our jurisdiction and provide them with the option to securely transmit complaint information to EEOC electronically. We will also continue to upgrade our IT infrastructure to enhance information security and implement additional applications to support electronic document management, automated workflow, and records management.
In FY 2004, a cross-organizational group of agency employees designed a cost accounting approach to better integrate budget and performance and to improve financial management through the collection, allocation, and reporting of program costs. The cost accounting framework outlines major program elements to which employees allocate their time, allowing the agency to assess the cost of its programs for effective management of resources and operations.
We will continue the implementation of the cost accounting system through our time and attendance process. The system will enable us to routinely collect and better account for and strategically manage resources to meet agency goals. It will also help to better align our resources with program goals and results.
Another Victory in the Battle Against Racial Discrimination
The Los Angeles District Office settled its lawsuit against Earl Scheib, an auto-body chain, alleging that a manager subjected African American employees to racial slurs. Class members were also discharged in retaliation for complaining of harassment. Class members will share $375,000.
EEOC employees are at the heart of our efforts to become a model workplace and achieve organizational excellence. In FY 2004, we began to implement strategies, programs, and practices to strategically manage our employees and enable them to better perform their jobs. Several of our performance measures, Measures 3.1.6 and 3.1.7, were developed to find ways to resolve complaints or other disputes quickly and successfully.
RESOLVE, our one-stop, informal program for settling all types of workplace disputes within EEOC, celebrated its first anniversary on September 30, 2004. It is an ADR alternative not only to equal employment opportunity complaints, but to grievances and unfair practice claims. The program uses mediation or facilitation to resolve disputes brought to the program by our employees. During FY 2004, 48 people came to RESOLVE for assistance in resolving a workplace dispute.
Measure 3.1.7 tracks employees' acceptance of the RESOLVE program by looking at their willingness to use the program after their first use. Employees who completed a mediation or facilitation are asked to complete a participant satisfaction survey. Of the employees who completed the survey, 94% indicated that they would use the program again. This far exceeded our FY 2004 target of 30% and even exceeded our FY 2009 target of 80%. To build on this success and sustain this high level of satisfaction, the RESOLVE program will continue extensive outreach to inform and educate EEOC employees about RESOLVE and to encourage them to use the program if they are involved in a workplace dispute.
Other successes of the program included:
This year over 1,000 EEOC employees received training. This training was provided through venues as diverse as the Management Development Institute, which delivered EEOC-specific leadership and management training sessions, on-line courses through the Employee Development Center, the Federal Executive Institute, and the Small Agency Council. We also provided in-house training. EEOC staff received training in areas such as briefing and presentation techniques, customer service, clear writing through critical thinking, mid-career retirement planning, support staff career development skills for success, basic mediation skills, trial attorney orientation, the Freedom of Information Act, and ethics subjects, including the Hatch Act, conflicts of interest, and outside employment.
This page was last modified on November 18, 2004
