Return to Home PageStrategic Goal 1 covers three major programs involved in investigative and litigation activities: the private sector program, the federal sector program, and the state and local program.
Improve the effectiveness of the private sector enforcement program, including the use of charge prioritization, mediation, and litigation.
The Commission's private sector enforcement program is vital to the statutes we enforce. Individuals file charges alleging employment discrimination. We assist them in the charge filing process, review and investigate their charges, offer mediation to both charging parties and respondents charged, and conduct other settlement efforts throughout the charge process. Finally, in appropriate cases, we file litigation based on the merits of a case, the legal precedents involved, and the effective, strategic use of the agency's resources.
X=the stated measure/indicator is not used for the fiscal year.
| M E A S U R E S | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NO. | STATEMENT | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | |
| 1.1.1. | Percent of resolved private-sector charges benefitting victims of discrimination. | Target | X | 20% | 20% |
| Results | X | 21.3% | 22.1% | ||
| 1.1.2. | Percent of newly filed, administratively processed private-sector charges resolved within 180 calendar days. | Target | X | X | 60% |
| Results | X | X | 64% | ||
| 1.1.3. | Percent of sampled district office charge files with information supporting the categorization of the charges as "A," "B," or "C" and any necessary attorney involvement. | Target | X | X | 90% |
| Results | X | X | 90% | ||
| 1.1.4. | Percent of "A-1" charges received in the fiscal year with on-site investigations. | Target | X | X | At least 70% |
| Results | X | X | 30% | ||
| 1.1.5. | Percent of "A" charges where attorneys are available to advise investigators. | Target | X | X | 100% |
| Results | X | X | 100% | ||
| 1.1.6. | Percent of the cases filed in court involving multiple aggrieved parties (MAPs) or discriminatory policies. | Target | 32% | 32% | 36% |
| Results | 28.5% | 36% | 34% | ||
| 1.1.7. | Percent of cases litigated during the fiscal year with investigators assigned. | Target | X | X | no less than 5% |
| Results | X | X | 7.4% | ||
In fiscal year 2001, we met or exceeded nearly all of the targets in our measures. We resolved newly filed private sector charges more quickly, benefitted more victims of discrimination and retained the quality by appropriately categorizing charges. Our mediation program was a major contributing factor for achieving these targets and, in fiscal year 2002, we intend to expand the use of ADR. Finally, our attorneys and investigators collaborated in fiscal year 2001 to litigate cases more effectively. One specific approach we used during the fiscal year was to assign investigators to cases under litigation. We substantially exceeded our goal in this area. This approach allowed investigators to gain valuable experience and insight into the type of evidence needed by attorneys during litigation of a charge to improve their own identification and collection of information during charge investigations.
Although we did not achieve the specific target to file litigation involving multiple aggrieved parties or discriminatory policy cases, only 8 additional cases would have achieved the measure. Consequently, over the course of the year we substantially achieved this goal. Finally, we did not conduct enough on-site investigations on our "A-1" charges to achieve our goal. In our opinion, however, this ultimately did not adversely affect the quality or timeliness of completing private sector charges in our program, since we successfully met or exceeded our other fiscal year 2001 measures.
Enhance the effectiveness of the federal sector program.
Our federal sector enforcement program focuses on eradicating employment discrimination in the federal government. Its emphasis is different from EEOC's private sector enforcement program in several important ways, however. In the private sector program, individuals file charges directly with the Commission. Individuals in the federal sector file complaints with their own federal agencies first. The agencies initially investigate allegations of employment discrimination. Complainants can request a hearing by the EEOC on the allegations; a step that is not part of the private sector enforcement process. Also, a complainant or federal agency can file an appeal with the EEOC. This appeals procedure is also not part of the private sector enforcement process. If dissatisfied with the outcome, federal sector complainants can file a lawsuit in federal court, similar to a private sector charging party.
In addition to the hearings and appeals federal enforcement programs, our efforts include on-site reviews of federal agencies as part of our federal oversight role. These reviews help us identify concerns and discriminatory issues, as well as provide us with opportunities to advise federal agency managers about the federal sector process. Similar to the private sector program, we also establish policies in the federal sector to implement the equal employment opportunity laws and conduct outreach, education and technical assistance activities to prevent or correct discriminatory practices in the federal sector.
X=the stated measure/indicator is not used for the fiscal year.
| M E A S U R E S | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NO. | STATEMENT | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | |
| 1.2.1. | Percent of closed Hearings cases over 180 days old. | Target | X | 5% reduction of cases over 180 days old at beginning of FY2000. | 20% of closures are 360-days old and older. |
| Results | X | 6.8% reduction. | 46% | ||
| 1.2.2. | Percent of Hearings cases resolved within 180 days. | Target | X | X | 20% |
| Results | X | X | 19.4% | ||
| 1.2.3. | Percent of Appeals closures 500-days old or older. | Target | X | 20% | 30% |
| Results | X | 33% | 38.4% | ||
| 1.2.4. | Percent of Appeals cases resolved within 180 days. | Target | X | 10% of cases received in FY2000. | 20% of cases received in FY2001. |
| Results | X | 21.9% | 39.5% | ||
| 1.2.5. | Percent of Appeals resolved within 180 days involving breach of settlement agreements filed within the first 3 quarters of the fiscal year. | Target | X | X | 50% |
| Results | X | X | 62.7% | ||
| 1.2.6. | Percent of Appeals resolved within 180 days alleging non-compliance with an agency's final action or final decision filed within the first 3 quarters of the fiscal year. | Target | X | X | 50% |
| Results | X | X | 50% | ||
We met or substantially exceeded all of our federal sector measures for fiscal year 2001. Over the past few years we have targeted our resources on portions of the hearings and appeals inventory to simultaneously close older cases while remaining current with new filings. In fiscal year 2001, we made substantial progress. We resolved a significant number of older cases in the hearings and appeals inventories, closing more than double our target percentage of hearings cases and almost a third more than our target percentage of appeals cases. In addition, we met our target percentage to resolve hearings cases within 180 days of filing and almost doubled our target percentage to resolve appeals cases within180 days of filing. For hearings cases, we believe that the increased use of ADR techniques in the federal sector has had a powerful impact on resolving cases quicker. Close case management, special projects, and increased use of technology contributed to our appeal case processing success. We expect to continue these gains and will enhance our focus on early resolution approaches in the federal sector in the future.
Promote coordination and enhance efficiency by strengthening partnerships with State and Local Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) and Native American Tribal Employment Rights Organizations (TEROs).
We work with many state and local FEPAs and TEROs throughout the country to augment efforts to enforce employment discrimination statutes. Partnering with these agencies/organizations, through our work-sharing agreements and other activities, benefits both the employer and employee communities for several important reasons.
We coordinate charges that are dual-filed under both state or local law and federal law. This effort prevents duplication of effort, coordinates enforcement activities, streamlines the charge resolution process for both charging parties and respondents, consistently applies enforcement practices, and conserves limited government resources. A respondent usually responds to only one agency, but has the opportunity to resolve both state or local and federal actions simultaneously.
In addition, we provide training on investigative and legal issues and conduct joint activities to benefit our mutual constituencies, such as outreach to provide education and technical assistance. We contract with our TERO partners to promote employment opportunity on Indian reservations and tribal lands.
X=the stated measure/indicator is not used for the fiscal year.
| M E A S U R E S | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NO. | STATEMENT | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | |
| 1.3.1. | The number of FEPAs receiving technological capabilities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of charge processing procedures. | Target | 18 | X | 8 |
| Results | 22 | X | 10 | ||
| 1.3.2. | Effectively train FEPAs and TEROs. | Target | Train 30 FEPAs | Train FEPAs/ TEROs. Provide training materials on at least 2 employment discrimination subjects. | Train FEPAs/ TEROs. |
| Results | 49 FEPAs trained | 93 FEPAs & 61 TEROs trained. Materials on 2 subjects distributed | 91 FEPAs and 64 TEROs trained | ||
| 1.3.3. | The number of dual-filed charges contracted with FEPAs. | Target | X | approx.
53,000 |
approx.
55,000 |
| Results | X | 53,683 | 55,020 | ||
| 1.3.4. | The number of joint outreach programs conducted with FEPAs to educate and assist small businesses covered by EEOC enforced statutes and under-served communities and groups. | Target | X | X | 20 |
| Results | X | X | 30 | ||
We met or exceeded all of our fiscal year 2001 state and local measures. In fiscal year 2001, we contracted with 91 FEPAs to resolve 55,020 dual-filed charges and contracted with 64 TEROs to promote employment opportunity on Indian reservations. Our successes with our state and local partners fully support Administration efforts to focus resources on directly serving customers. We will continue our nationwide collaborative relationships with our FEPA and TERO partners to enforce our respective laws and prevent discrimination in the workplace.
This page was last modified on April 11, 2002.