The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
A Message from the Chair
I am pleased to present the U.S. Equal Employment OpportunityCommission’s (EEOC’s) Performance and Accountability Report (PAR)for Fiscal Year 2008. This report contains the agency’s assessment ofits FY 2008 program and financial performance, as well as anupdated Strategic Plan that was approved by the Commission andnow covers the period through FY 2012.In FY 2008, while trying to maintain sufficient staff levels, our privatesector charge receipts rose to 15.2% above last year’s level.Nevertheless, we continued to focus on improving our delivery ofservices to the public and strengthening our systemic enforcementefforts. In September, I appointed one of our key field officedirectors to serve as the national systemic investigation programmanager. I also promoted two regional attorneys to senior litigationproject managers for the program. Our strong and growing systemicprogram is crucial to the elimination of any and all instances ofunlawful pattern or practices, policy and class discrimination whichhave a broad impact on an industry, profession, company, orgeographic location.In early December 2008, we will complete the move of ourWashington Headquarters and Washington Field Office to 1 NoMa Station, located in a newlydeveloping area northeast of the Capitol. We are confident that our new location, in the heart of anincreasingly vibrant commercial and residential community, will address our infrastructure needs andenhance our efforts to serve the public.In the context of service, the transitioning of our National Contact Center, which was responsible forreceiving initial calls and inquiries from the public, from an outside contractor to an in-house operation,known as the Intake Information Group (IIG), is nearly complete. The steps taken during FY 2008included hiring and training IIG staff and beginning the process of acquiring the technology needed toprovide superior customer service. We expect that the transition, which began in December 2007, willbe completed by February 2009.While this has proven to be another year of significant challenge, I am gratified that we have receivedan unqualified opinion for the fifth consecutive year from independent auditors. I am confident that thefinancial information and the data measuring EEOC’s performance contained in this report arecomplete and accurate.We have also worked together to manage our internal controls environment. Based on a review of agencywidematerials and the assurances of the agency’s senior managers, the agency’s management andfinancial controls environment under the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) was sound in FY2008. The agency did identify 20 financial non-conformances, including 7 that were carried over from theprevious fiscal year. Of the 20 identified, 16 financial non-conformances were fully corrected in FY 2008,including the 7 that had been carried over from FY 2007. Of the 4 remaining financial non-conformances,the agency has implemented corrective action plans to resolve all of the findings in FY 2009.2 A Message from the ChairOn the policy front, in fiscal year 2009, we will address the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act(GINA), which prohibits public and private employers from using genetic information in employmentdecisions. The EEOC will also be providing tailored training and technical advice and assistance to itsfull array of stakeholders regarding GINA and its implementing regulations that will be issued in fiscalyear 2009. In addition, the agency will be issuing regulations implementing the Americans WithDisabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008, which changes the way EEOC will be evaluating charges ofdiscrimination received under Title I of the ADA and federal sector complaints brought under Section501 of the Rehabilitation Act.In looking ahead, we find that race and color discrimination are still very much alive in the Americanworkplace and that significant work remains to be done. Beyond traditional outreach and educationefforts, we will pursue charges for priority, novel or emerging legal issues in the context of race andcolor discrimination, through the agency’s E-RACE Initiative.We will also pursue several other key outreach programs, as part of our proactive prevention efforts,including continuing our work with small and medium-sized businesses and Commission Initiatives,such as the Youth@Work and LEAD Initiatives. We will continue our fee-based training and ouroutreach, education and technical assistance programs to meet the needs of diverse audiences and willpartner with the employer community and other stakeholders to foster strategies to recognize andprevent discrimination in the workplaceAll of our activities during the past fiscal year were in furtherance of our mission of promoting equalityof opportunity in the workplace, while providing high-quality, professional customer service that thepublic expects. With the achievement of solid and meaningful results, we have made enormousprogress towards ensuring equal employment opportunity for America’s workforce, present andprospective.
http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeoc/plan/par/2008/par2008.pdf
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