The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released its
annual federal workforce report for fiscal 2003, designed to
advise the Executive and Congress on the state of EEO in the
federal workforce, stating that while diversity is improving
EEO case management remains seriously flawed.
“The processing of EEO complaints continues to be plagued
with delays government-wide. Case processing statistics are
going in the wrong direction, faring worse than the prior
fiscal year. EEO case management is a seriously flawed
process. Unless and until agencies address the inefficiency
and ineffectiveness of the discrimination complaint process,
the federal government will not maximize savings, and
employees will not see prompt resolution to their
complaints,” said EEOC Chair Cari M. Dominguez.
Federal employees and applicants filed 20,226 discrimination
complaints in fiscal 2003, representing a decline of about 8
percent from fiscal 2002, said the report.
It said that on average, agencies took 267 days to
investigate complaints–much longer than the required
180-day limit–and case processing increased from 418 days
in fiscal 2002 to 541 days in fiscal 2003.
Of the 19,772 complaints agencies resolved, 46 percent
resulted in final action on the merits, 28 percent were
settlements and 1.3 percent resulted in a finding of
illegal discrimination, and complainants got $61.2 million
in awards through agencies or on appeal, said EEOC.
“I urge all agencies to aggressively review agency case
management practices and procedures to identify problem
areas and to find solutions, an effort that EEOC is
currently undertaking for its hearings unit,” said Dominguez.
