EEOC ISSUES FY 2008 PERFORMANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT; PRIVATE SECTOR RECEIPTS UP 15.2 PERCENT

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

Restoring Civil Rights

New York Times
Editorial
Restoring Civil Rights
Published: January 30, 2008

In recent decades, and to much public acclaim, Congress passed a series of landmark laws designed to ensure equal rights for all Americans. Lately, and without much notice, the Supreme Court has been gutting them.
Senator Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, has introduced a pair of bills designed to undo the damage done by the court’s badly reasoned decisions. Congress should pass both without delay.
One of the most troubling rulings was in the case of Lilly Ledbetter, a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plant who was paid less than her male colleagues after she was given smaller raises over several years. The court’s conservative majority ruled that Ms. Ledbetter had not met the 180-day deadline to file her complaint. It insisted that the 180 days ran from the day the company had made the original decision to give her a smaller raise than the men.
The ruling made no sense, since Ms. Ledbetter was being discriminated against when she made her complaint. As a practical matter, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted in a strongly worded dissent, it would have been exceptionally difficult for Ms. Ledbetter to complain when she was first given a lower raise than the male supervisors because Goodyear, like many employers, kept salaries and raises confidential.
The Fair Pay Restoration Act, one of Senator Kennedy’s bills, would undo the injustice of the Ledbetter decision by establishing that the 180-day deadline runs from when a worker receives the unequal pay, not when the employer decided to discriminate. It would make clear that each discriminatory paycheck restarts the clock.
Mr. Kennedy’s other bill, the Civil Rights Act of 2008, would reverse more bad decisions. One of these is a 2001 ruling that says that people who are discriminated against in programs using federal funds can sue only for intentional discrimination, not for actions that have a discriminatory effect. This decision dramatically scaled back protections against discrimination of all kinds.
The civil rights bill would also strengthen age discrimination laws, which the court has repeatedly and shamefully weakened. It would make clear that, contrary to the court’s recent interpretation, federal law barring age discrimination requires the same standard of proof as cases of race, gender and other forms of discrimination. Another provision of the bill would give students in schools that receive federal funds greater protection against harassment.
In the House of Representatives, John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, has introduced a companion bill to the Senate civil rights bill. The House has already passed its own version of the fair pay law.
Conservatives like to say that the court’s conservative justices believe in applying the law, not making it. But in recent years, the court’s majority has been reading federal anti-discrimination laws far more narrowly than Congress intended — not applying the law, but unmaking it. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/opinion/30wed2.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Congress Introduces Civil Rights Act of 2008

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Angela Okamura and Katie McCown civilrights.org
January 24, 2008

As the nation celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is fitting that Representative John Lewis, D. Ga., and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D. Mass., should introduce the Civil Rights Act of 2008 this week, just days after King's birthday. The Act would restore civil rights protections Americans have counted on for decades.
"The introduction of the Civil Rights Act of 2008 could not come at a better time," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "People think the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is written in stone, but Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy is being dismantled court by court, judge by judge, and ruling by ruling, eviscerating protections that all Americans depend on."
In recent years, the federal judiciary has eroded our national commitment to equal opportunity for all. The courts have increasingly adopted narrow understandings of rights and new restrictions on access to the courts and effective legal remedies that together leave victims of discrimination without justice.
In order to guarantee that federal funds are no longer used to subsidize discrimination, the Civil Rights Act of 2008 will restore the right of individuals to challenge practices that have an unjustified discriminatory effect based on race, color, national origin, disability, age, or gender.
The bill will also hold state employers accountable for age discrimination, protect students from unlawful harassment in our schools, and improve the mechanisms of accountability for other civil rights and workers' rights violations.
Civil and human rights groups representing various communities applaud Sen. Kennedy's and Rep. Lewis' commitment to reversing the recent rollback in core civil rights protections.
Vincent Eng, deputy director of the Asian American Justice Center, highlights the Act's importance to his community: "Asian Americans across the country continue to face rampant discrimination in the workplace and encounter critical language and cultural barriers to accessing federal programs and services. Now is the time to ensure that we continue to provide communities with the safeguards they need to promote prosperous and productive citizens."
The last time Congress overturned a string of court rulings that severely impacted civil rights was in 1991, after the Supreme Court limited the rights of employees to prevail in court when discriminated against by their employers. http://www.civilrights.org/press_room/buzz_clips/civilrightsorg-stories/civil-rights-act.html/