The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has approved
a plan on a three-to-one vote to reorganize its field
structure to place more staff on the “front lines” partly
by flattening the agency’s management structure.
The agency said no jobs would be lost and that no offices
would close – in fact it announced plans to open new
offices in Las Vegas and Mobile, Ala. – but said that
the plan entails reducing or converting the ranks of
managers, regional attorneys and administrators in order
to bolster investigative staff, mediators and litigators.
“Repositioning will enable the EEOC to build up its
front-line staff so that charging parties and the public
will get better, faster service,” said Chair Cari M.
Dominguez, who introduced the plan in May.
She said the agency was not reducing it presence by
downsizing field offices in Baltimore, Cleveland, Denver,
Detroit, Milwaukee, New Orleans, San Antonio and Seattle.
“All current offices will continue to provide a full
range of services, and two new offices will be opened in
areas that need more service,” said Dominguez.
The agency said it met with civil rights groups,
representatives of the bar, unions, congressmen and others
and changed the plan, for example, by “moving various
counties to jurisdictions of other EEOC offices – and
providing that each state and local fair employment
practice agency will have a relationship with only one
EEOC district office for the purposes of administration
of its contract and file review of its cases.”
The approved proposal is the second of three
repositioning efforts undertaken at the advice of the
National Academy of Public Administration.
The first effort involved establishing a National
Contact Center, on a pilot basis, and the third would
see a streamlined Washington headquarters with clearer
roles and lines of responsibility.
Following the announcement, Senate Democrats reportedly
sent a letter to EEOC raising concerns that reducing
attorneys could cut the agency’s capacity to hear
complaints, and asked it to postpone the reorganization
until the Government Accountability Office can assess
the plan’s merits.
Commissioner Stuart Ishimaru, who was appointed by Bush
in 2003 voted against the proposal.
More than 19,000 complaints of discrimination were filed
against federal agencies according to EEOC’s fiscal 2004
report on the federal workforce. The agency has about
2,400 employees.
