FY 2003 Performance and Accountability Report

Table of Contents

MISSION/VISION STATEMENT
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
EEOC AT A GLANCE
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

A Message From The Chair

January 30, 2004

It is with distinct pleasure that I present the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) performance and accountability report for fiscal year (FY) 2003. I am especially pleased that independent auditors could render an opinion on our balance sheet. I am confident that the financial information and the data measuring EEOC’s performance contained in this report are complete and accurate.

It has been nearly 40 years since the Commission was established as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While the world and the workplace have changed dramatically during that time, our service delivery infrastructure has remained virtually unmodified. In FY 2003 the time came for a good look-see at the agency. Indeed, we would be remiss of our responsibilities if we failed to examine the trends and issues that are driving the economy and fueling the workplace and how those issues impact the way we carried out our responsibilities at the Commission.

Shifting demographics and the explosion of technological innovations, globalization, and a heightened state of security alert have converged in the workplace to require the Commission to be more flexible and adaptable in its enforcement role. As a public service agency, we have a choice to make. We can disregard these external indicators and keep everything the same, continuing to face budgetary constraints and to forego much needed human capital investment in the process, or we can seize the moment and catch up to the times.

As a first step in our self-examination we set out to develop a new strategic plan for fiscal years 2004 through 2009. Having a strategic vision of the future has never been more important for the EEOC. Working through cross-organizational groups we developed a plan that moves away from measuring our accomplishments through organizational processes and activities. All of the measures in the new plan are intended to demonstrate the EEOC’s impact on creating fair and inclusive workplaces across America. The measures are now results-oriented and expressed in directly quantifiable terms or through program evaluations. These measures of success represent a fundamental break with the past, and are a major step forward in how we view, manage and carry out the important work of the EEOC.

However, our final destination remains the same: to eradicate discrimination and ensure equal employment opportunity. During FY 2003, the EEOC made some significant strides toward that goal. Our staff resolved more than 87,000 complaints of discrimination; litigated nearly 400 lawsuits and reached out to more than 325,000 employers and employees. Beyond the numbers, our staff worked to develop strategic approaches to enforcement and litigation, make the EEOC more efficient, and improve the Federal sector complaint process.

In summary, FY 2003 was an exceptional year. I invite you to read this report and learn about how the EEOC is working toward creating equality of opportunity for all who live and work in the United States.

Cari M. Dominguez
Chair
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

EEOC at a Glance

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established in 1964 to enforce the employment provisions of civil rights legislation. We have jurisdiction over the Federal Government’s role as an employer, public and private employers, public and private employment agencies, and labor organizations. We provide leadership to Federal departments and agencies with equal employment opportunity programs and offer assistance to departments and agencies in the implementation and completion of equal employment coordination responsibilities. Through our headquarters and field offices, we receive, review, and investigate charges of employment discrimination and approve the filing of civil rights discrimination suits under legislation, including:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which requires employers to treat pregnancy and pregnancy-related medical conditions as any other medical disability with respect to terms and conditions of employment, including health benefits.
• Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination in the Federal sector against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures; hiring; firing; advancement; compensation; fringe benefits; job training; and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Title I also requires reasonable accommodation, absent undue hardship, for qualified individuals with disabilities. In addition, Title I contains certain prohibitions regarding disability-related inquiries and medical examinations of applicants and employees as well as rules regarding confidentiality of medical information.
• Equal Pay Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which prohibit sex discrimination in the payment of wages to men and women performing substantially equal work in the same establishment.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967, which protects workers 40 and older from discrimination in hiring, discharge, pay, promotions, fringe benefits, and other aspects of employment; prohibits termination of pension contributions and accruals on account of age; and governs early retirement incentive plans and other aspects of benefits planning and integration for older workers.
• Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, which prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures; hiring; firing; advancement; compensation; fringe benefits; job training; and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Title I also requires reasonable accommodation, absent undue hardship, for qualified individuals with disabilities. In addition, Title I contains certain prohibitions regarding disability-related inquiries and medical examinations of applicants and employees as well as rules regarding confidentiality of medical information.

Organization

The EEOC is a bipartisan Commission, which comprises five presidentially appointed members, including the Chair, Vice-Chair, and Commissioners. The Chair is responsible for the administration and implementation of policy for the Commission and for the financial management and organizational development of the Commission. The Vice-Chair and the Commissioners participate equally in the development and approval of the policies of the Commission, issue charges of discrimination where appropriate, and authorize the filing of suits. Additionally, the President appoints a General Counsel who is responsible for directing, coordinating, and supervising the EEOC’s litigation program.

Through our Office of Federal Operations, we provide leadership and guidance to Federal agencies on the Federal Government’s equal employment opportunity program. This office ensures Federal agency and department compliance with EEOC regulations. These regulations establish systems for the fair resolution of discrimination complaints within the Federal Service, provide guidance and technical assistance during pre-appellate hearings, the adjudication of appeals from Federal agency decisions, offer case resolution assistance, and help guide the development and implementation of affirmative employment policies.

Through our headquarters Office of Field Programs, Office of General Counsel, and 51 field offices, we effectively enforce the statutory, regulatory, policy, and program responsibilities of the Commission through a variety of resolution methods tailored to each charge. The field staff is responsible for fulfilling a wide range of performance objectives that focus on the quality, timeliness, and appropriateness of individual, class, and systemic charges and for securing relief for victims of discrimination in accordance with Commission policies. The field staff also counsels individuals about their rights under the laws enforced by the EEOC, conducts outreach and technical assistance programs, and provides access to individuals who are geographically distant from EEOC field offices.

Additionally, through our State and Local Programs and more than 90 State and local Fair Employment Practices Agencies, the EEOC seeks to avoid a duplication of effort in the investigation and litigation of complaints between dually charged Federal, State, and local claims. Through our partnership with more than
60 Tribal Employment Rights Offices (TEROs), we seek to promote employment opportunity on or near Indian reservations.

Through our Office of Legal Counsel we develop policy guidance, provide technical assistance to employers and employees, and coordinate with other agencies and stakeholders regarding the statutes and regulation we enforce. The Office of Legal Counsel also includes an internal and external litigation and advice division and a Freedom of Information Act unit.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis

A Year in Highlights

The promise of equal opportunity is a legal right afforded to all of our nation’s workers and job applicants and is woven into the fabric of the American dream. Since its inception in 1965, the EEOC has helped individuals realize this dream. Equal opportunity in the American workplace is a matter of social justice and a national economic imperative.

The American workplace is rapidly changing. Researchers forecast an ever more diverse workforce. Increased workplace participation of ethnic and racial minority groups, people with disabilities, and older workers is helping to redefine attitudes and expectations toward work and retirement. The very nature of the traditional employer–employee relationship is also undergoing dramatic change. Fiercely competitive global markets; an economy in which many companies are restructuring, reengineering, and establishing or expanding multinational operations; and the fast pace of technological advances are combining to produce the most mobile and flexible workforce in history. These social, economic, and demographic trends have important implications for the EEOC.

The EEOC worked to address these challenges through more strategic, proactive, and innovative approaches. During fiscal year (FY) 2003, we managed activities through our Five-Point Plan—
a broad operational guide for maximizing resources. The Commission embraced its responsibilities as outlined by the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) and the New Freedom Initiative (NFI), while furthering our own Freedom to Compete Initiative. We also implemented innovative technologies to enhance management information systems throughout the agency and instituted benchmarking systems to track program activities. In FY 2003, we operated at the most efficient levels in the Commission’s history.

In frontline program areas, notably enforcement and outreach, we surpassed our goals for FY 2003. While we resolved charges more efficiently and effectively, we also enhanced public outreach and education. During FY 2003, EEOC staff resolved more than 87,000 complaints of discrimination in the private sector and resolved in litigation nearly 350 lawsuits. Our National Mediation Program secured the highest number of resolutions since its inception. Through our education, training, and technical assistance efforts, we reached nearly 325,000 people. Visits to our website continued to increase, reaching more than 350,000 per month by the end of the fiscal year. However, we still have far to go to reach renewed goals and to stay abreast of changing demographics and global competition while we address evolving challenges.

Because of the changes in the American workplace and the realities of the new century, we examined many of our most basic assumptions and began the process of transitioning the agency to better accomplish our mission. With the Five-Point Plan to guide us, we developed a new Strategic Plan and began to study how to reposition EEOC at an operational level and reform the Federal sector process.

Five-Point Plan

At the direction of EEOC Chair Cari M. Dominguez, the Commission’s senior managers developed a Five-Point Plan, which provides the foundation for the agency’s vision and the strategic framework for operations. It is a broad, progressive approach that forms strategic alliances both within and outside the agency to enhance the effectiveness of all programs and services. The plan serves as a guide for exploring ways to make the best use of EEOC data, information, and experiences and places a premium on coordination, innovation, and results.

• Proactive Prevention focuses on eliminating employment discrimination by preventing it before it happens.
• Proficient Resolution is an operational strategy that focuses on achieving fair and meaningful results in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
• Promotion and Expansion of Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)—the centerpiece of the Five-Point Plan—is intended to settle disputes quickly, amicably, and cost-effectively.
• Strategic Enforcement and Litigation provides a meaningful impact on discrimination in the workplace through strategic use of research, coordinated enforcement, and targeted litigation.
• EEOC as a Model Workplace emphasizes our commitment to “practicing what we preach.”

Repositioning The EEOC for the 21st Century

The EEOC is an agency with too few resources to adequately address its challenging and important mission. About 80% of our budget goes for salaries and office rent and our organizational structure has not been significantly modified in more than 30 years. In addition, under the President’s Management Agenda (PMA), each Federal agency must conduct an internal review and develop a five-year restructuring plan. Consequently, in March 2002, we asked the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to conduct an objective, independent study of our structure and program delivery systems. NAPA completed its report, and in September 2003, the Commission convened a meeting to review the study findings and hear suggestions from a wide range of stakeholders about how best to reposition the agency for the future; respond to demographic shifts and changing customer needs; plan for the impact of technology, new business environments, and workplace trends; and meet our fiscal responsibilities.

Federal Sector Reform

During FY 2003, we initiated a review of our Federal sector responsibilities. Stakeholders representing both complainants and Federal agencies have long voiced concerns that the Federal sector discrimination complaint process, which is currently available to 2.7 million Federal employees, is slow, expensive, and inherently unfair. The Commission convened a meeting in November 2002 to hear testimony about the current process from a cross-section of stakeholders. We held a series of smaller roundtable discussions with various stakeholder groups and received numerous written comments. After considering a number of options, we hope to propose corrective measures in FY 2004.

Under our responsibilities as “Chief EEO Officer” for the Executive Branch, the EEOC is focusing on a new approach to creating a barrier-free, level playing field throughout the Federal Government. This bold new approach is defined in the new Management Directive-715. The directive, which the Commission voted in April 2003 to release for interagency coordination under Executive Order 12067, emphasizes the identification and elimination of unnecessary barriers to equality of opportunity and focuses on the design and implementation of agency programs. With this directive, the Commission will be able to provide valuable assistance to agencies in designing affirmative programs of equal employment opportunity currently required by existing law.

New Strategic Plan

Through our Strategic Plan, we focus on vigorously pursuing all types of employment discrimination. In addition to addressing charges filed with the agency, we coordinate with Federal, State, and local partners and with partners in the private sector to proactively seek evidence of discriminatory activities not yet reported through case filings.

In FY 2003, we revised our six-year strategic plan. The updated plan became effective October 1, 2003. However, the performance section of this report—“Achieving Results”—is based on the prior strategic plan. Figure 1 depicts the results of our attempt to shift resources from Strategic Goal 1: Enforcement to Strategic Goal 2: Prevention. Our budget does not allow for significant shifts in strategies within a one- or two-year period. The target remains to shift resources over several years from enforcement to prevention while managing case inventory at an acceptable level.

Strategic Goal 1
Enforce Federal Civil Rights Employment Laws

This goal includes our nationwide investigation and litigation activities for the enforcement of civil rights employment laws for the private sector, Federal sector, and State and local programs. We have identified key performance objectives for each sector’s support for this strategic goal.

Strategic Enforcement and Litigation

Numerous workplace trends and employment issues have made it necessary for us to reconsider how best to use limited resources to carry out our enforcement and litigation mission.

We formed the Strategic Enforcement and Litigation Workgroup to consider how these and other changes affect our functions and priorities. As part of this long-range planning effort, the workgroup has studied the types of charges we receive and how we resolve them to identify trends and possible areas on which to focus our resources. With the added emphasis on mediation, the workgroup also formulated standards to guide the field offices in determining which charges should be referred to mediation; promoted closer cooperation between legal and enforcement staff; identified significant legal issues developing in the courts; and researched other emerging workplace issues for future enforcement, litigation, and policy development.

By thinking strategically about the use of enforcement resources, we are able to litigate in situations where the EEOC is better positioned than private plaintiffs to obtain broad-based relief or to obtain relief otherwise unavailable to private plaintiffs. For example, in March 2003, the Commission settled an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) lawsuit in which it had intervened against one of the largest State employee retirement systems. Under the terms of a consent decree, approximately 1,700 retired public safety officers received or will receive monetary relief (a total of $250 million). The lawsuit had alleged that a disability retirement system that calculated benefits based on the age at which an individual began working as a public safety officer discriminated against older workers. Our resolution of the suit is significant because private individuals cannot sue State entities for monetary relief under the ADEA.

Enforcement Statistics

We received 81,293 private sector charges, 4% less than the 84,442 received in FY 2002. Through administrative resolutions and mediation, we obtained $236 million in monetary benefits for victims of employment discrimination. Other achievements in the private sector program include:

• Maintained a pending charge inventory of 29,368, compared with the FY 2002 figure of 29,041.
• Achieved 87,755 resolutions, with a merit factor resolution rate of 19.5%. Favorable outcomes include mediation and other settlements, as well as cause findings, which, if not conciliated, are considered for litigation.
• Cut average charge processing time to 160 days, down from 171 days in FY 2002.

(See Figure 2.)

Litigation Accomplishments

EEOC field legal units filed 361 new lawsuits on the merits and 29 subpoena enforcement and other actions during FY 2003. Legal staff resolved 344 lawsuits for a monetary recovery of more than $148.9 million dollars. This amount does not include the additional $200 million in future monetary benefits recovered in a settlement involving CALPERS (the California state pension program), which is the largest litigation settlement in the Commission’s history. Significantly, the $148.9 million recovery is the highest monetary recovery for a single year in the history of the Commission’s litigation program.

Of the 344 resolutions, there were 254 Title VII settlements, 47 ADA settlements, 28 ADEA settlements, 13 concurrent settlements, and 2 EPA settlements. Thirty-one subpoena enforcement and other actions were also resolved during the year. In terms of dollars recovered in direct and intervention lawsuits by statute,
$87.4 million was recovered in Title VII settlements, $57.7 million in ADEA settlements, $2.5 million in ADA settlements, $1.15 in concurrent settlements, and $15,000 in EPA settlements.

In addition, the number of cases on the EEOC docket that involve discriminatory policies or multiple aggrieved parties has steadily risen, reaching 220 cases—or 41% of the EEOC’s cases—in FY 2003.

Mediation Statistics

Mediation is the centerpiece of the Five-Point Plan. Since the private sector mediation program was launched in 1999, more than 35,000 charges have been resolved through the agency’s private sector mediation program—which is the largest workplace mediation program of its kind in the country. Our program is both voluntary and confidential. It is designed to encourage the earliest possible amicable resolution of charges by the parties themselves with the help of a neutral mediator.

In FY 2003, EEOC’s National Mediation Program secured 7,990 resolutions—the highest number ever—an increase over the previous year’s 7,858. More than $115.9 million in benefits were realized from mediation resolutions, compared with $111.5 million obtained in FY 2002.

One of the strategies that we are pursuing to bring more charges into mediation is universal agreements to mediate (UAMs) with employers. UAMs save time and effort for employers and for EEOC. Through FY 2003, 414 such agreements have been entered into locally between employers and our district offices. At the national level, 16 large corporations, including several Fortune 500 companies, have agreed to enter into national universal agreements to mediate (NUAMs) charges filed with the EEOC at any of our district offices across the country.

In 2003, we also implemented a pilot Referral Back program. Under the program, and with the charging party’s consent, we hold the processing of the charge in abeyance while the parties attempt to resolve the matter through the employer’s internal ADR program.

We have taken our successes in the private sector mediation program and are applying them to the Federal sector. Persuading all Federal agencies of the merits of ADR in resolving discrimination conflicts is one of our top priorities for
FY 2004.

We implemented several pilot programs to resolve complaints in which hearings before a Commission administrative judge had been requested. The overall goal has been to guide the parties toward a mutually positive outcome without the need for a hearing.

Federal Sector Statistics

We continued to enhance the hearings program in our field offices and to slow the growth of the hearings inventory. At the end of FY 2003, the Federal sector hearings inventory had decreased from 10,072 pending requests to 8,467, a 16% decline. The Federal sector aged hearings inventory has continued to decline. We ended FY 2003 with a significant decrease in our aged inventory. At the end of FY 2003, our 180-day inventory decreased from 6,081 at the end of FY 2002 to 4,443, a 27% decline.

During the year, we resolved 12,230 cases and obtained over $52.4 million in monetary benefits for complainants. The joint initiative between the EEOC and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to refer USPS hearings cases back to that agency’s internal mediation program for resolution continued in FY 2003, and we continued to emphasize the use of ADR to resolve hearings cases. The continued use of ADR programs in the hearings process has contributed to the efficient resolution of cases by providing mutually satisfactory resolution without the need for a formal hearing and by reducing processing time. Using ADR to resolve cases earlier in the process enables EEOC staff to focus on resolving older cases. We are also able to reduce future complaints by improving communication between parties through mediation and other forms of ADR.

Other FY 2003 highlights include:

• An increase in the number of hearings resolutions by 5% to 12,230, as compared with 11,666 cases resolved the previous year.
• New hearings cases entering the workload totaled 9,918 compared with 9,617 the previous year.

We improved the processing of our Federal sector appellate cases—reducing inventory to 3,831 cases, which is 20% less than the FY 2002 level and a 68% reduction from the high of 11,918 appeals in January 2000. This is the first time that the appellate inventory has fallen below 4,000 cases since 1994.

In addition to reducing the size of the appellate inventory, we also substantially reduced the average age of the remaining open appellate cases. The average age of the appellate cases open at the end of FY 2003 was 190 days. This is a 26% reduction from the FY 2002 average age of 256 days and a 55% reduction of the FY 2001 average age of 430 days. We also reduced the average processing time of all appellate closures from 467 days in FY 2002 to 285 days in FY 2003—a 39% reduction. We achieved all of these case processing successes while obtaining a record $20 million of compliance benefits at the appellate level.

Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) Statistics

FEPA charge receipts decreased by 2%, from 63,376 in FY 2002 to 61,998 in
FY 2003. FEPAs resolved 61,590 charges, 5% more than during the previous year. The pending inventory decreased to 62,774, down from 65,833 in
FY 2002.

Strategic Goal 2
Promote Equal Opportunity in Employment

This goal focuses on preventing employment discrimination by emphasizing outreach, technical assistance, and voluntary compliance with a broad range of stakeholders. To achieve this goal, the EEOC promotes understanding of the laws enforced by the Commission and emphasizes our efforts to reach out to employers, employees, and members of the public, including small businesses and underserved communities, through major programs for employers and employees.

Freedom to Compete

The agency’s Freedom to Compete Initiative is designed to build partnerships with our stakeholders and to develop solutions that eliminate barriers to open competition in the workplace. To further promote the initiative, we hosted a series of meetings with various stakeholders nationwide to discuss 21st century employment trends and workplace issues. In FY 2003, outreach efforts also included CEO roundtable discussions, public service announcements, media presentations, identification of best practices, and a more user-friendly website. Since launching the initiative, we have established 23 strategic alliances with new partners.

The New Freedom Initiative

In 2001, President Bush launched the NFI, a comprehensive strategy to achieve full integration of individuals with disabilities into all aspects of the nation’s social and economic life. Because the unemployment rate of people with disabilities is estimated as high as 70%, access to employment is a critical aspect of full integration. As the agency responsible for enforcing the employment provisions of the ADA, we assumed a lead role in furthering the NFI.

Our NFI activities include free workshops on the ADA targeted at small businesses, the publication of a fact sheet on telework as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA, and the publication of The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Primer for Small Business in both English and Spanish. More than 10,000 free copies of the primer have been distributed and more than 60,000 people have accessed the publication online.

Strategic Alliances and Outreach Activities

The underlying theme of our outreach strategy is proactive prevention and expansion of the EEOC as a workplace partner to help prevent discrimination. Education and outreach are critical to this effort, particularly outreach to non-traditional partners. Examples of our new and expanded outreach activities include:

• A more user-friendly public website to promote sound EEO policies and prevent discriminatory practices. The number of visitors to EEOC’s website has been rising for the past two years, increasing the average users per month by 58%, for a current monthly total of more than 350,000 (an average of 11,357 per day). The website now provides more information to the public than all of our other outreach programs combined.
• Partnership with employer groups including the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC), and the National Industry Liaison Group.
• Partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to work together on national origin issues. This partnership has led to expanded participation by DOJ’s Office of Special Counsel at EEOC’s Technical Assistance Program Seminars (TAPS) and other outreach collaborations with the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights.
• Partnerships with national ethnic and minority business associations, such as the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and civil rights organizations including the national Arab American, Islamic, and Muslim Anti-Discrimination committees; the Arab American Institute; and the Organization of Chinese Americans.
• A National Ethnic and Foreign Language Press and Electronic Media Initiative to help reach the large immigrant audience that we serve.
• Collaborative efforts with the many FEPAs throughout the country, leading to our recognition of five FEPAs and three EEOC District Offices for their outstanding and innovative joint outreach initiatives.
• The Small Business Administration’s National Ombudsman commended EEOC in its July 2003 Report to Congress, awarding the agency high marks for its compliance assistance to small business. Of 32 Federal agencies rated in this report, EEOC was one of only seven agencies receiving a rating of A-, the highest rating awarded by the Ombudsman in 2003.

Figure 3 summarizes the outreach contacts made with the employer community.

Global Collaborations

Countries around the world seek EEOC’s expertise on employment matters, and we have a tradition of sharing our expertise and experiences with other nations. During the past year, we further expanded international cooperation by

• Co-chairing two annual events of the Global Colloquium on Women, which brings together leaders from foreign governments, multinational businesses, international media, and nonprofit organizations to share ideas and showcase best practices for moving toward women’s equal participation in the workplace.
• Developing new fact sheets, including Employee Rights When Working for Multinational Employers and The Equal Employment Opportunity Responsibilities of Multinational Employers, which addressed common questions about how laws enforced by the EEOC apply to U.S. workers on international assignments and to all employees working in the U.S. for multinational companies.
• Meeting with foreign delegations—Chile, France, Malaysia, ten Arab nations, Brazil, Hungary, Kosovo, Germany, Japan, Korea, Turkmenistan, Lithuania, Italy, Costa Rica, and Sweden—to provide technical assistance to governments and organizations seeking to strengthen their countries’ legal protections and enforcement structures to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace.
• Sending Commission representatives to international conferences in Belgium, Hungary, and Denmark to provide requested assistance to the European Union (EU) as it works to expand equal employment laws throughout the EU member states and prospective member states.
• Collaborating with the Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to determine how the ILO and the EEOC can work together more frequently on the shared objective of eradicating discrimination and creating a fair and level playing field for all workers.
• Enhancing services to immigrant populations through the “Justice and Equality” Program—a consortium uniting the Commission with the consulates of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Colombia; the Department of Labor; the Department of Justice; local government officials; community organizations; and the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. These programs were launched in Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Denver.

Strategic Goal 3
Enhance Effectiveness to Achieve Mission and Strategic Goals

This goal focuses on improving support operations to enable us to meet our 12 measures and objectives. It includes major programs, such as enhancing staff effectiveness, providing guidance and technical assistance, and enhancing the agency’s infrastructure.

RESOLVE

The launch of our new internal ADR program, RESOLVE, provides a one-stop, informal program for settling all types of workplace disputes and serves as an alternative not only to equal employment opportunity complaints, but also to grievances and unfair practice claims. A number of Federal agencies have already asked us to share the program with them so they may use it as a model in developing their own internal mediation programs.

Enhanced Internal Communication

During FY 2003, we worked to enhance internal communication by holding an annual all-employee meeting at headquarters, bimonthly interactive “chats” among the Chair and 30 headquarters staff from all levels of EEOC, and regular email messages to all EEOC personnel to keep staff informed on the status and progress of issues of interest.

Employee Development Center

During FY 2003, we implemented the Employee Development Center (EDC), a website and e-learning training pilot program for employees. More than 1,800 courses are available for EEOC employees. The EDC helps us meet the
e-government and human capital objectives of the PMA.

Management Development Institute

We established a Management Development Institute, a program that provides all EEOC managers, supervisors, and potential leaders with leadership development training.

The President’s Management Agenda

The PMA envisions a customer-centered, performance-driven, results-oriented Federal Government, using standards of success for each of five government-wide objectives: strategic management of human capital, budget and performance integration, competitive sourcing, improved financial performance, and expanded electronic government. Getting a green on the PMA scorecard signifies “success.” We incorporated PMA objectives into the operations of all of our offices and programs so that we can achieve our goal of “getting to green.”

Financial Highlights

In FY 2003, we met and surpassed significant challenges to improve our financial management. To prepare and comply with the Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) requested a non-opinion audit of the FY 2002 financial statements and internal controls through the Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG’s 29 findings provided the basis for improvements implemented during FY 2003. During FY 2003, we hired an outside consultant to assist with an off-the-shelf product to automate the preparation of the financial statements. A second consultant prepared automated solutions and standard operating procedures for several technical accounting issues, including future workers compensation liability using a Department of Labor methodology and the capitalization of property, plant, equipment, leased equipment, and internal use software.

We use one financial management system to record and report on financial and performance results, the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS). Within IFMS, we use the core modules, including project cost accounting, the procurement desktop module, the fixed asset module, and the travel manager module as subsidiary ledgers to support our general ledger capabilities. The system provides a cross-section of management and transaction queries and reports to allow management and staff access to the financial information. This system is the sole source for financial control totals and detailed financial information required to prepare the EEOC’s quarterly and annual financial reports.

The financial resources obligated this fiscal year are detailed in Figure 4. Within the uses of funds, compensation and benefits and rent continue to consume almost 80% of our annual budget. The budget and cost structure issues are discussed further in the message from the CFO in the Financial Statements section of this report.

Achieving Results

This section of the report summarizes the results we achieved in FY 2003, as required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. Our FY 2003 Annual Program Performance Report is incorporated into the FY 2003 Performance and Accountability Report and links to our Strategic Plan for FYs 2000-2005. Using specific performance targets, we track our progress toward achieving our mission to eradicate and prevent employment discrimination at the workplace.

During FY 2003, we continued to address key Commission and Administration initiatives that carried over from FY 2002. These multiyear initiatives are a critical component of our mission and serve as the guiding principles for future planning efforts. These initiatives work together to support the EEOC’s vision and mission and to help us achieve our goals.

Strategic Initiatives Included in the FY 2003 Annual Performance Plan

The Five-Point Plan

In early FY 2002, the Chair and the agency’s senior leadership developed a Five-Point Plan. The plan is a strategic framework that builds on what we have done to improve operations. It seeks to broaden the EEOC’s reach through increased education, outreach, mediation, and strategic enforcement and litigation. The goal of the Five-Point Plan is to provide the best service possible at the lowest possible cost to the American taxpayer.

The Five-Point Plan provides the framework for accomplishing our mission and is central to the three overarching strategic goals in our Strategic Plan. The plan places a premium on coordination, innovation, and results. Under the plan, all facets of EEOC’s work are viewed with an eye toward being more proactive and more effective.

Proactive Prevention

The best way to combat discrimination is to prevent it. Under this element of the Five-Point Plan, we will proactively prevent discrimination by educating employees and employers and providing information that will help them identify and solve problems, enhance outreach activities, promote sound workplace practices, introduce new and expanded outreach activities, and better use available technology to communicate with the public and our stakeholders.

Proficient Resolution

The EEOC must consistently deliver quality services in a timely and cost-effective manner. Charge and complaint processing must be accurate, appropriate, and fair. Staff and other resources must be deployed to ensure the quality and timeliness of processing. We will institute effective quality control measures and mechanisms to assess our success in meeting this objective.

Promotion and Expansion of Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution

Promoting and expanding mediation and other types of ADR is the centerpiece of our Five-Point Plan. Dispute resolution is intended to settle conflicts quickly, amicably, and effectively. We will build on our earlier successes with ADR to address employment disputes and continue to improve our services. Through marketing, information sharing, and outreach we will further encourage the public’s use of ADR.

Strategic Enforcement and Litigation

The EEOC will continue to address illegal discrimination through coordinated enforcement and focused litigation that ensures that we deploy agency resources wisely and effectively. We will develop baseline information on enforcement and litigation activities; analyze and consider workplace trends, national and local issues, and industry information; and use other tools to enhance our efforts to remedy discrimination in the workplace.

EEOC as a Model Workplace

We will set the standard for employer excellence. The principles and standards we promote to employers must be an integral part of our own operations. Our roadmap to achieve this objective is the PMA, which addresses important enhancements to internal agency operations and the agency’s interface with the public. This integration of the Five-Point Plan and other Administration and agency initiatives will help build a model workplace through which we can effectively and efficiently accomplish our goals.

Other Initiatives

In addition to the Five-Point Plan, other Administration and Commission initiatives were incorporated into the FY 2003 Annual Performance Plan and our new Strategic Plan.

The President’s Management Agenda (PMA)

The PMA envisions a citizen-centered, results-oriented, and market-based Federal Government and focuses on five Government-wide areas to improve agency management and deliver results to the American public. The EEOC has incorporated each of the following critical initiatives into its Five-Point Plan.

• Strategic management of human capital
• Competitive sourcing
• Improved financial performance
• Expanded electronic government
• Budget and performance integration

The President’s New Freedom Initiative

In 2001, President George W. Bush launched the NFI—a comprehensive strategy for achieving full integration of individuals with disabilities into all aspects of the nation’s social and economic life. Access to employment is, of course, one critical aspect of full integration. As the law enforcement agency responsible for enforcing the employment title of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the EEOC continues to work closely with other Federal agencies and the White House to implement the NFI in the workplace.

NFI emphasizes the importance of telework and technological innovation as vehicles for increasing employment of people with disabilities. We have launched an initiative on telework as it relates to an employer’s obligation to provide reasonable accommodation under the ADA and will continue to undertake aggressive outreach efforts aimed at small businesses and people with disabilities. We have also launched a State Best Employment Practices project where by EEOC will collaborate with several states to review their best practices relating to hiring and advancement of individuals with disabilities, to be highlighted in a commission report.

Freedom to Compete Initiative

The agency launched the Freedom to Compete Initiative in 2001. Through the Freedom to Compete Initiative, we work to proactively ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to compete in the workplace on a fair and level playing field, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or disability. This initiative focuses on building partnerships, liaisons, and strategic alliances with our stakeholders to identify and eliminate organizational and attitudinal barriers that may still be obstructing open competition in the workplace and to develop proactive and innovative solutions to eliminate those barriers.

The goal of this initiative is being accomplished through a building approach that will culminate in its institutionalization at EEOC. We engaged a cross-section of stakeholders in a dialogue about the agency and explored with them how we could broaden our presence and more proactively address 21st century workplace issues. We then began forming partnerships, developing alliances, and using other collaborative efforts to engage stakeholders to influence the opinion leaders in the economic community and drive change in the workplace. We will enhance our outreach and education efforts to include roundtable discussions, commission meetings, and public service announcements. We will also develop programs to honor and recognize individuals and organizations that demonstrate exemplary efforts to open doors to employment and level the playing field to ensure free and fair competition in the workplace.

Leading Interagency Coordination

The EEOC serves as the lead agency in coordinating Federal agencies’ enforcement of all Federal statutes, Executive Orders, regulations, and policies requiring equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. Since Executive Order 12067 was issued in 1978, the EEOC has exercised this responsibility in many different ways by coordinating and cooperating with key Federal agencies responsible for areas of equal employment opportunity. We will reinvigorate our leadership of equal employment policies and programs.

Performance and the Future

During FY 2003, the Chair formed a cross-organizational strategic planning group that developed a new Strategic Plan for the EEOC. Discussed at length later in this section, the new Strategic Plan for FY 2004–2009 helps reposition the agency to better fulfill its mission. The new plan includes more results-oriented performance measures that seek to measure the EEOC’s impact rather than its processes and activities. Consequently most of the performance measures reported in this report will not be continued. A brief narrative following each measure discusses whether that measure will be continued into FY 2004.

Strategic Goal 1
Enforce Federal Civil Rights Employment Laws

Under this strategic goal, we seek to enhance our effectiveness in three major program areas: private sector programs, Federal sector programs, and State and local program. This strategic goal relates to three elements of our Five-Point Plan: Proficient Resolution, Promotion and Expansion of Mediation/ADR, and Strategic Enforcement and Litigation.

Since 1965, the EEOC has been charged with enforcing the nation’s civil rights employment laws, which protect individuals from discrimination in the workplace. During this time, additional legal protections have been created by Congress, interpreted by the courts, and applied in the public and private business arenas. We continue to hold true to our fundamental responsibility—seeking to correct the wrongs of employment discrimination and bringing justice and equal opportunity to the workplace.

To carry out our mission, we seek to quickly, accurately, and consistently resolve charges of discrimination against private sector employers. As we investigate charges of discrimination, we are impartial finders of fact. Once discrimination is found, however, we work to correct the injustice and effect change in the workplace through all avenues available, including conciliation and litigation. We are also introducing more workers and employers to the benefits of ADR by expanding the use of our voluntary mediation program.

In addition, we want to ensure that the doors of justice and opportunity are open to Federal employees and applicants for Federal employment. Through oversight of the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint process and the administration of our Federal hearings and appellate programs, we are ensuring the fair, efficient, and equitable resolution of employment discrimination disputes.

Implementation Programs

Three major programs cover our nationwide investigative and litigation activities under this goal—the private sector program, the Federal sector program, and the State and Local Program.

Private Sector Enforcement

The Commission, in its role as a law enforcement agency, is responsible for enforcing the nation’s civil rights employment laws. Individuals who believe they have been discriminated against in the workplace or in an employment-related activity may file a charge with the EEOC. We assist them in filing their charge; offer mediation to both charging parties and respondents, where appropriate; review and investigate their charges; and conduct other settlement efforts throughout the charge process. Finally, when the EEOC determines that discrimination has occurred, we seek to correct it, through settlement/ conciliation, mediation, or, in appropriate cases, litigation.

The Commission continues to make considerable gains in enhancing its private sector enforcement program. In FY 2003, we built on these past successes, which helps us achieve several key aspects of our Five-Point Plan and other initiatives.

For FY 2003, we measured the timeliness and quality of charges processed to illustrate the effectiveness of our private sector enforcement program.

We exceeded by a considerable margin our FY 2003 targets for Measures 1.1.1, 1.1.2, and 1.1.3. We maintained a balanced workload by resolving almost 75% of the charges and ending the fiscal year with a pending inventory of approximately 29,000 charges. We processed almost 69% of resolved charges within 180 days of their receipt. Our success in exceeding our targets for Measures 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 builds on a steady pace of success in reducing the average charge processing time from a high of 336 days in 1995 to only 160 days in 2003. The target values used in both of these measures reflect a balance for continuing the trend of providing prompt service while preserving our ability to devote the necessary time and attention to charges that present meritorious or complex claims and to remedy discrimination where it is found. Measure 1.1.1 has been discontinued; however, our new Strategic Plan continues Measure 1.1.2, which calls for us to resolve at least 70% of private sector charges within 180 days.

Finally, we exceeded the target for Measure 1.1.3, which asks us to maintain a high quality standard for ensuring that charges are appropriately prioritized, because the proper categorization of charges is critical to the effective administration of our private sector enforcement process. We reviewed 1,055 sampled closed charge files from 22 field offices and determined that more than 95% contained information that supported the categorization of the charges. Although this objective is not continued beyond FY 2003, the new Strategic Plan includes a measure of overall quality in the investigation of charges, which encompasses the quality of our charge prioritization process.

Federal Sector Enforcement

Our Federal sector enforcement program focuses on addressing employment discrimination in the Federal Government. Its emphasis is different from our private sector enforcement program in several important ways. Most notably, the EEOC has the authority to hold hearings, issue decisions, and review matters on appeal. In the private sector program, individuals file charges directly with the Commission. Individuals in the Federal sector file employment discrimination complaints with their own agencies first and those agencies investigate the allegations. Complainants can then request a hearing by the EEOC on the claims. Administrative judges (AJs) from the EEOC complete the process of developing a full and appropriate record in the hearings process by adjudicating claims and issuing decisions. Hearings only occur in the Federal sector process. AJs also attempt to settle complaints without the need for a hearing. In FY 2003, more than 32% of hearings cases were resolved based on settlement agreements. A complainant or Federal agency can file an appeal of the decision with the EEOC. Relief ordered by a final Commission decision is mandatory and binding on the agency, except in limited circumstances. This appeals procedure is also not part of the private sector enforcement process. If dissatisfied with the outcome of either a hearing or appeal, a Federal sector complainant can file a lawsuit in Federal court, similar to a private sector charging party.

In addition to hearings and appeals programs for Federal sector complainants, our enforcement efforts include program evaluations of Federal agencies’ EEO programs as part of our oversight role. These evaluations help us identify concerns and advise Federal agency managers about establishing and maintaining effective programs to foster equal employment opportunity. Similar to the private sector program, we also establish policies implementing the equal employment opportunity laws in the Federal sector.

Hearings Program

The hearings process is a major component of the EEOC’s Federal sector program. Our focus in FY 2003 was to continue the considerable improvements we have made to address the inventory of older hearings cases and to reduce the complaint inventory by resolving more hearings within 180 days.

During FY 2003, our target for the older hearings cases was to resolve 95% of them filed on or before September 30, 2001. Although we did not meet the target established by resolving 80.7% of the older hearings, we believe that the results were partially affected by the inter-district transfer of cases. Each year, based on an analysis of available staffing resources and workload projections, we balance the workload by transferring some cases between selected offices. For example, in FY 2003, we transferred approximately 1,000 cases. As a result, our ability to achieve this measure was affected because of the time needed to transfer the case files and for the receiving office staff to familiarize themselves with the new cases. We will not continue this measure beyond FY 2003 because Measure 1.2.2 encompasses these cases and is a more appropriate indicator of success for the agency as a whole.

We exceeded our target for Measure 1.2.2, our second measure of the timeliness of processing hearings during FY 2003, by a considerable margin. We resolved a total of 30.5% of the hearings cases within 180 days. In the new Strategic Plan, we will continue to measure the percentage of all hearings resolved within 180 days. In addition, we have established an ambitious target for the new measure—to resolve by FY 2009 at least 50% of all hearings within 180 days. This target will ensure that a balance of newer and older hearings cases are addressed and resolved in a timely manner.

Appeals Program

EEOC improved the processing of Federal sector appellate cases, and in FY 2003 we substantially exceeded the targets for these two measures. Like the hearings cases, these two appeals measures addressed older appellate cases as well as cases filed within FY 2003.

For Measure 1.2.3, we identified 672 cases that were more than 500 days old at the beginning of FY 2003. By the end of the fiscal year we had resolved 650 of them (96%), substantially exceeding our target of 50%. This extraordinary accomplishment aids all parties, because older cases are often more difficult to process and resolve. This measure is not continued beyond FY 2003 because of the success the agency has achieved in resolving many of its older cases. We also were concerned about those appeals cases that would become more than 500 days old by the end of the fiscal year if they remained open. These cases are not included in this measure. We identified 2,039 cases in this category and closed 1,911, or 94%, of them by the end of the fiscal year. Consequently, during FY 2003, we resolved most of the aged cases in our appellate inventory.

Our second measure addressed those appeals cases received in FY 2003 that we resolved within 180 days. We achieved more than double the percentage of resolutions of these cases than we had targeted. Of the 7,035 new appeals received during the FY, we resolved 3,158 of them within 180 days, or 44.8%. Like the comparable measure for our hearings process, our new Strategic Plan includes a measure to resolve at least 70% of Federal sector appeals within 180 days. This will include all appellate cases, eliminating the need to continue the Measure 1.2.3 beyond FY 2003.

This objective helped guide our efforts to take a more proactive approach in monitoring agencies’ activities to determine whether they are complying with the terms of settlement agreements entered into by the parties in our appellate cases and resolving any breaches of an agreement quickly. The target was to resolve within 180 days at least 50% of the appeals filed during the first three quarters of the fiscal year alleging a breach of a settlement agreement. We exceeded our target for this measure by completing 165 of the 268 breach appeals received within the time frame, or 62%, and determined that it was unnecessary to continue measuring this type of activity beyond FY 2003.

Other Federal Sector Program Measures

In FY 2002, we completed our first year implementing a web-based system that enables Federal agencies to submit their annual EEO reports to EEOC across the Internet. Among other features, the system included an automated edit checker that enhances the validity and reliability of the transmission of an agency’s data. This system also greatly improved our ability to issue our yearly report containing information and data on the EEO program Government-wide. For example, we issued our FY 2001 report in May 2002, 220 days after the end of the fiscal year. We issued the FY 2002 report in mid-April, 197 days after the end of the fiscal year—10.5% faster, which exceeded our target in just the first year of implementation.

We will continue to improve the reliability and the capability of Federal agencies to report their EEO program information and continue to reduce the time it takes to issue our annual report. For example, in FY 2003 we surveyed Federal agencies’ EEO staff about the usefulness of the web-based data collection system. Based on their input, we made the system more user-friendly by consolidating the collection of some data and updating and revising instructions and help screens to clarify the type of data requested. We anticipate that this should enable us to issue our FY 2003 annual report even sooner. However, during the process of developing our new Strategic Plan, we identified more relevant measures of success for the Federal sector program and will not continue this measure beyond FY 2003.

As a Federal agency, we must implement an effective and efficient EEO program to achieve the last goal contained in our Five-Point Plan: EEOC as a Model Workplace. We want to make our program an example for other agencies to emulate. For FY 2003, the two measures above addressed key aspects for efficiently processing our internal EEO complaints.

We did not achieve our target to issue investigative reports within 180 days or less for all complaints. We did issue the Reports of Investigation within 180 days or less for 40% of the complaints filed during FY 2003. Using ADR techniques and closely monitoring investigative time frames, however, we did reduce the average processing time to investigate a complaint filed during FY 2003 to under 180 days. Also, 56% fewer cases were pending investigation by the end of the fiscal year, as compared to the previous year, which significantly reduced the number of cases pending in the investigation stage. Of these pending cases, only one was more than 180 days old, a mixed-EEO case awaiting a jurisdictional decision by the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). By the end of FY 2003, the average age of all of these pending cases was 124 days, including the case awaiting a MSPB decision.

The second measure of efficiency for our internal EEO complaint process is to issue determinations within 180 days of a requested hearing. In FY 2003, using contract administrative judges, the agency issued determinations within 180 days for 15 of the 22 hearings, or 68.2%, meeting our target for the year.

These two measures are not continued beyond FY 2003 in their current form. As part of our effort to develop our new Strategic Plan, the agency determined that a new measure for our internal EEO complaint process more appropriately measured our organizational excellence and was included under Strategic Objective 3. Also, the measure combines the entire process, rather than separating it into two steps, to target the reduction in the average time to process internal EEO complaints throughout the entire investigative and hearings process by at least 40% over a six-year period. In addition, we have included another measure in our new Strategic Plan that will improve our efforts to resolve internal complaints expeditiously using ADR techniques. Both of these new measures will enhance our ability to become a model workplace.

State and Local Program

We work with many State and local Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) and Native-American Tribal Employment Rights Organizations (TEROs) throughout the country to enhance efforts to enforce employment discrimination statutes nationwide. EEOC’s partnerships with these agencies and organizations, through our work-sharing agreements and other activities, benefit both the employer and employee communities for several important reasons. With our FEPAs, we coordinate charges that are dual-filed under both State or local law and Federal law. This enables both the EEOC and our State or local partners to prevent duplication, coordinate enforcement efforts, streamline the charge resolution process for both charging parties and respondents, consistently apply enforcement programs, and conserve resources. A respondent charged with allegations of employment discrimination usually responds to only one agency, but that single investigation can be the basis for the resolution of both the State or local and Federal action.

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. Additionally, we contract with our TERO partners to promote employment opportunity on Native American reservations.

We contracted for 60,597 dual-filed charges to be resolved by FEPAs, which far exceeded our target of 55,000 for this measure. The increase in the number of contracted charges was directly attributable to a $3 million increase in the State and local appropriation in the EEOC’s FY 2003 budget. This increase enabled us to contract with the FEPAs at 100% of their projected full charge processing capacity. We are not continuing this measure beyond FY 2003 because the agency identified alternative results-based measures in its new Strategic Plan.

Strategic Goal 2: Promote Equal Opportunity in Employment

This strategic goal aims to increase voluntary compliance with the Federal equal employment laws and increase individual knowledge of rights and responsibilities under the laws. Strategic Goal 2 focuses on one element of the EEOC’s Five-Point Plan: Proactive Prevention.

We believe that the best way to combat workplace discrimination is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Educating employers and workers about their rights and responsibilities under the law is the first step toward an inclusive work culture—where all workers are judged on their talents and abilities, without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, age, or disability.

A strong prevention program helps employers comply with the law and breaks down barriers to employment opportunities. Through outreach and education, the EEOC seeks to prevent unlawful exclusionary practices from taking root at all. Encouraging inclusive, equal opportunity workplaces is a powerful prevention strategy.

The EEOC recognizes that many employers and employees today are committed to equal employment principles. Prevention strategies should seek to strengthen our shared responsibility for implementing these principles and to extend this commitment to new generations. This is increasingly important as American society becomes more diverse and new challenges to equal opportunity principles arise.

Implementation Programs

Our FY 2003 Annual Performance Plan identified separate goals and measures for employer and employee groups. Although employers and employees, and their respective stakeholders, attend many of our outreach, education, and technical assistance events or benefit from our educational materials, it was important to separately focus on the unique issues and perspectives of each group for a number of years. Our new Strategic Plan combines our prevention efforts and does not focus on the same types of activity measures for these separate groups. Therefore, all performance measures for Strategic Goal 2 are not continued beyond FY 2003. Instead, in the future, we are focusing on more results-based measures to assess improvements in workplace policies, practices, and procedures as indicators of success with our prevention programs.

Outreach and Technical Assistance to Employers

We believe that discrimination can be averted if companies, Federal agencies, and individuals know their legal rights and responsibilities. Knowledge and understanding can lead to changed practices and behaviors in the workplace. The employer community is a key component of the equation for creating an inclusive workplace. Our strategy to prevent discrimination in the first place includes extensive outreach, education, and technical assistance efforts to assist private sector and Federal sector employers to voluntarily comply with the laws we enforce.

We exceeded the target for Measure 2.1.1 by having a total of 1,623 consultations with employer stakeholders on operational and legal issues during FY 2003. This total included consultations with employers (1,360), Federal sector representatives (254), and Bar Associations (9).

For Measure 2.1.2, a total of 63,111 representatives from private sector and Federal sector employers attended our technical assistance activities (excluding those conducted by our Revolving Fund), substantially exceeding our target for this measure. Representatives from the private sector (51,518) and the Federal sector (11,593) attended no-cost technical assistance activities, which included oral presentations, stakeholder input meetings, free training, and expanded presence programs.

We more than doubled the projected target for this measure by conducting 520 outreach events nationwide. These events were provided to employers to encourage them to participate in EEOC’s mediation program, which has resulted in quicker resolutions of charges filed against employers.

We also far exceeded our target for conducting outreach or education activities or other technical assistance activities to help Federal agencies make EEO program improvements, including the enhanced use of ADR programs throughout the EEO process. We held 304 no-cost and 153 fee-based events, for a total of 457 outreach, education, and technical assistance activities. These events to assist Federal agencies included oral presentations (216), stakeholder input meetings (31), no-cost training events (48), expanded presence events (9), and fee-based training/technical assistance events provided under our Revolving Fund Program (153).

EEOC’s field offices continued to deliver high quality Technical Assistance Program Seminars (TAPS) throughout FY 2003 under the auspices of the Revolving Fund. Virtually all participants at TAPS events continued to rate the overall quality of the training as acceptable or better, exceeding our 90% target.

Outreach and Technical Assistance to Employees

We make extensive information available to private sector and Federal sector employee communities to help educate them about their rights and assist them in the important steps they need to take to exercise those rights. The agency recognizes that employees, or applicants for employment, are valuable partners in the quest to create an inclusive workplace. The private sector and Federal sector employee communities require special attention with programs to ensure that we are able to reach this broad-based audience.

We exceeded both of the targets for these measures in FY 2003. We held 2,096 consultations with employee stakeholders on operational and legal issues, exceeding our target of 2,000 consultations. We also provided 74,678 employees and employee representatives (including representatives from under-served groups or communities) with EEOC’s education and information materials, exceeding the target value for this measure by almost 60 percent.

Although we finalized the preparation of the required documents in alternative languages for posting on the agency’s website during FY 2003, technical issues with computer software prevented the use of all of the files and they could not be posted on the website within the fiscal year. The issues have been rectified and we expect to post the foreign language documents to our website once it is redesigned. We translated three other documents into multiple languages and our important “Equal Opportunity is the Law” poster was updated and translated into Spanish during FY 2003. In addition, we are currently developing a Spanish language version of our website that we expect to launch in June 2004.

This measure encompasses many proactive, substantive activities to assist Federal agencies in complying with the laws and regulations designed to prevent discrimination from occurring in the first place. Our proactive approach enables us to help agencies identify problems before they escalate, provide recommendations and practices to help prevent discrimination from occurring, and reduce associated costs for addressing allegations of discrimination after complaints are filed.

As a key component of this approach, we have expanded the availability and access to Federal sector informational material and publications. We continue to provide our interactive computer-based training program, “Sailing Through the Federal Sector EEO Process,” to stakeholder groups and individuals at stakeholder events, training courses, and through an email address (eeo.cbt@eeoc.gov). We also continue to disseminate various Federal sector research materials, case decisions, and other helpful information on our website.

Strategic Goal 3: Enhance Agency Effectiveness to Advance Our Mission and Strategic Goals

Strategic Goal 3 is intended to help us improve organizational capacity and infrastructure to more effectively and efficiently carry out our mission. It also includes one element of the EEOC’s Five-Point Plan: EEOC as a Model Workplace.

The performance measures for this strategic goal focus on improving capacity in three key areas: Staff effectiveness, policy guidance and technical assistance, and agency infrastructure. Achieving these goals will enable us to more effectively and efficiently carry out our mission. Each of these areas is essential for achieving our enforcement and prevention efforts. Working together, all three of our overarching strategic goals are necessary to accomplish our mission. These three areas and the performance measures aligned with them are described below.

None of these measures are continued beyond FY 2003 because our new Strategic Plan has identified different performance measures that are more results-based. For example, for the first time we will be measuring customer confidence in our services. We have developed better measures of the success of our internal EEO program, including the implementation of the Federal sector Model EEO Program criteria. Also, we will demonstrate enhancements to our human capital planning initiatives and measure employee satisfaction.

Staff Effectiveness

Our employees’ skills and abilities are key to successful enforcement of our statutory authorities. Because knowledge and technological requirements are quickly changing in our society, we must give our employees the necessary information and tools to do a quality job. Part of the PMA emphasizes critical components of human resource management because Federal agencies are now facing challenges to recruit, select, and retain employees. To address these areas, we have identified several performance measures to enhance staff effectiveness.

During FY 2003, the agency evaluated its e-learning pilot and recommended its continuation with enhanced online and electronic marketing of the program. A prototype computer-generated marketing video for online learning was developed and was displayed during training sessions and sent to selected offices for comment and evaluation. Another prototype of a computer-generated video was developed to determine whether videos are an effective means for distributing and disseminating information and training using live transmissions with fewer resources.

The agency also initiated a Management Development Institute (MDI). An integral part of its training is the information processing instrument called the IOPTd, which is delivered to training participants, evaluated, and delivered online to the agency’s training staff. The information is used by the MDI to train the agency’s managers, and in the future will be used for team building training and organizational development purposes. Also, the agency is introducing managers to the capability of using software solutions for delivering remote training, convening meetings, and providing other activities.

Finally, technology-based training was used when implementing our new Integrated Mission System (IMS), which is EEOC’s primary mission-related information system. Live, remote, online training was provided over the EEOC’s intranet to approximately 2,000 staff in 48 field offices, saving the agency more than $200,000 in travel expenses. This method provided multiple training sessions, in digestible two-hour segments, to IMS users within two weeks of system deployment to their respective office. In addition, we used the same method to conduct user training to deploy the travel manager component of the agency’s finance system nationwide. This approach resulted in additional cost savings for the agency.

Policy Guidance and Technical Assistance

External policy guidance and technical assistance aids employers, employees, courts, and Congress in understanding the Federal equal employment opportunity laws. These items provide valuable information about individual and employer rights and responsibilities and also encourage voluntary compliance with Federal employment discrimination laws. In addition, courts carefully review Commission regulations and policy guidance to interpret employment discrimination law.

Internal guidance assists our employees in understanding Federal equal employment opportunity laws and enables them to provide better customer service. Using the Commission’s policies and internal guidance, our employees apply investigative and legal standards accurately, effectively, and consistently nationwide. In addition, internal guidance and training helps foster a model employer atmosphere at the EEOC. It is critical that the Commission adopt and implement internal programs and guidance that allow its own employees to work in an environment free of discrimination.

The agency achieved the target for this measure through a number of activities, which included providing ADA training and reviewing our telecommuting fact sheet covering the employment of people with disabilities. In addition to these specific activities, we continued activities as part of the agency’s implementation of President Bush’s New Freedom Initiative.

For this initiative, the agency continues to pursue a number of innovative strategies that venture beyond our traditional enforcement role. The agency has conducted more than 50 free workshops for small businesses to answer questions about the ADA and to inform them of the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. One of these workshops was conducted in collaboration with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Other workshop co-sponsors included various local chapters of the Business Leadership Network and local chambers of commerce, The Chicago Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, and the American Society of Employers.

In addition to the workshops, the agency published a hard copy version of its ADA Primer for Small Business—a practical, reader-friendly handbook that provides a common sense explanation of the ADA’s employment provisions. Since its publication, more than 10,000 copies have been distributed in English and Spanish, including copies to nearly 100 targeted small businesses, small business development centers, and local chambers of commerce.

While continuing its outreach to small businesses, we also began several other activities to support the NFI. We asked several disability rights organizations to participate in upcoming conferences to explain the legal rights of individuals with disabilities who are employed or trying to enter the job market. The agency also continued working with the National Council on Disability to provide technical assistance to mediators and persons with disabilities on the rights of people with disabilities in the mediation process. Finally, we began to form partnerships with three States that volunteered to participate in a project that will highlight State’s best practices for employing people with disabilities.

EEOC achieved this measure by coordinating and cooperating with several agencies in developing various policy matters and conducting training for Federal agencies’ staffs. For example, we coordinated the development of joint policy and guidance with the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the Department of Justice, and the Office of Personnel Management on the definition of the term “applicant” for Internet recruiting and hiring and for the race and ethnic designations and job categories for the EEO-1 reporting form used by private sector employers.

We finalized procedures for complaints against the EEOC under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, developed a fact sheet about the ADA and the Federal Drug Administration’s Food Code, and provided assistance to the Department of Labor regarding ADA confidentiality issues raised in the Office of Safety and Health Administration litigation.

We also approved EEO-related rules enforced by Federal agencies under Executive Order 12067, including the Homeland Security Department’s Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504 regulations; and the Department of Justice’s Joint Final Rule to implement the definition of “program or activity” or “program” in the Civil Rights Restoration Act.

The agency used the Internet and computer technologies to enhance its coordination function. We updated our entry on the Internal Revenue Service’s Small Business Resource CD-ROM for distribution free-of-charge to the public, reviewed the agency’s internal and external websites for consistent descriptions of documents, participated in an initial assessment of a Government-wide
e-rulemaking initiative, and updated the agency’s EEO poster on the website.

We also conducted numerous training events for Federal agencies on various EEO subjects. We met with the Department of Justice’s National Origin Task Force and with advocacy, private, and Federal sector human resources groups to publicize the EEOC’s Compliance Manual chapter on national origin discrimination.

We could not deliver diversity training to all supervisors and managers during FY 2003 because of funding constraints that limited new or traditional approaches we considered to accomplish this measure. The agency is continuing to explore different approaches to provide all of our supervisors and managers with the type of training that will give them the tools and techniques to effectively manage a diverse workforce. Our challenge is to find or develop a diversity training program that addresses the circumstances of our agency, where we have an already diverse workforce, and our need to address the more subtle cultural issues of diversity. Many of the standard diversity training programs focus on the egregious issues of employment discrimination and the anti-discrimination laws that we enforce. Our focus is to find cost-effective alternatives to some of the traditional approaches for offering training (for example, face-to-face diversity training) or even some of the newer techniques (for example, contracting for online training services) without sacrificing the quality or content of the training. During FY 2003, we explored several online training and other long-distance training options; however, these did not provide an effective, affordable means to deliver the unique type of diversity training we need.

Although the NAPA study that offered restructuring recommendations was released during FY 2003, other efforts that will establish the proper context for our restructuring plans took precedence, including developing our new Strategic Plan and obtaining input from stakeholders. The EEOC continued to receive input from employees and stakeholders. For example, in September 2003, the Commission held a public meeting to solicit input from various internal and external stakeholders on repositioning the agency for the future. Among our plans is the implementation of a cost-effective customer service contact center to provide optimum service and quality information to the public.

Additionally, throughout FY 2003, the agency also participated in an extensive, cross-organizational effort to develop a new Strategic Plan that covers six fiscal years from 2004 to 2009. The plan, which was effective on October 1, 2003, will guide many facets of the agency’s operations, including human capital and repositioning initiatives. While this measure is not continued beyond FY 2003, we are diligently working to reposition the agency within the budgetary realities in which we operate.

Agency Infrastructure

The agency’s infrastructure includes the financial, human resource management, technology, and administrative support systems that help achieve our Strategic Goals and performance measures. We must maintain an effective and efficient finance system to account for resource expenditures and promptly pay for services. We need a modern personnel system to help manage our workforce and strategically address human capital issues—an important reform initiative of the Administration and one that is critical to implementing our new Strategic Plan. In addition, EEOC needs integrated mission systems to consolidate data, streamline business functions, and improve work efficiency.

We fully implemented the Interior Department’s Electronic Acquisition System (IDEAS) procurement module, the fixed assets module, and piloted and fully implemented the travel manager module to continue to improve our IFMS. The IFMS integrates our core accounting system with budget, procurement, travel, and asset management. It also supports e-commerce activities such as electronic routing of contract documents, direct electronic communications with vendors, and direct entry of vendor profiles and other contract data through the Internet. The enhancements made to this system in FY 2003 continue to support and improve the efficiency of the EEOC’s front-line programs.

We exceeded our target for Measure 3.3.2 by fully deploying the four subsystems to our IMS to all EEOC field offices during FY 2003, instead of only initiating the deployment with several field offices. This deployment of the IMS culminates a multi-year, cross-functional effort to implement the most important mission-related information system for the EEOC.

The IMS is the agency’s enterprise-wide mission system that supports major front-line programs. It replaces a legacy system, the Charge Data System, which was almost two-decades old. The system supports our enforcement goals by integrating the processes and data for charges in intake, mediation, investigation, and settlement/conciliation, as well as, for the first time, cases in litigation. The IMS also supports our prevention goals by integrating the processes and data for our outreach and technical assistance programs.

Built with state-of-art web technology, the IMS represents a substantial change in the way the agency’s field and headquarters employees use technology to perform the agency’s core mission activities. The system provides an intuitive, graphical user interface, supports the tracking of allegations of employment discrimination, provides real-time search capability against a national database of current and historical charges, incorporates an easy-to-use reporting facility, integrates with the agency’s word processing software to generate Commission forms and letters, and supports our strategic enforcement efforts by integrating investigation and litigation data for the first time.

We substantially exceeded our target for Measure 3.3.3 by properly completing and paying 99% of the travel vouchers within 15 business days after receipt. In fact, 96% were properly completed and paid within 5 business days. The agency has contracted with the Department of Interior’s (DOI) National Business Center since December 2001 to perform this function.

We also exceeded our target for Measure 3.3.4 by a significant margin. The agency initiated several new approaches among its contracting officers, including team functions and cooperative activities, to enhance procurement processes. Also, the agency employed a new automated, desktop procurement system, IDEAS, which facilitated the expedited preparation, processing, and tracking of all related acquisition forms.

The agency also significantly improved the efficiency of its payment functions by reducing the use of less efficient payment methods by more than half during
FY 2003. We accomplished our goal by ensuring that most vendors accepted the agency purchase card and by training administrative officers on the IFMS bankcard interface module to take full advantage of the agency’s new technology tools. The module enables administrative staff to access and review overnight bankcard charges online, and eliminates much of the paper processing associated with hardcopy receipts and invoice copies.

We exceeded our goal for Measure 3.3.6 with annual revenues of the Revolving Fund covering 91% of its costs for FY 2003. The Revolving Fund enables the EEOC to charge a fee for the costs associated with delivering specialized external education, technical assistance, and training on the laws we enforce. Programs offered through the Revolving Fund enhance those activities provided to the public free of charge. We will continue to move to self-sufficiency for this fund but, with the agency’s new performance measures that are incorporated into our Strategic Plan for FYs 2004–2009, we will not continue this measure beyond FY 2003.

A New Focus for Strategic Planning

This section discusses the EEOC’s new Strategic Plan for FY 2004–2009 and communicates the changes in subsequent GPRA plans and reports, beginning in FY 2004. Driven by the need to respond to a changing environment, the plan was developed through an extensive, cross-organizational process throughout
FY 2003. Our new Strategic Plan will reposition the agency over the next six years and enable us to better fulfill our mission. The new plan represents a major improvement in our overall strategic planning and measurement framework. It articulates an overall vision and reformulates the agency’s mission.

Consequently, most of the measures from the FY 2003 Annual Performance Plan will not continue into FY 2004. Many measures focused on activity or output rather than specifically measuring the outcome of our work. As the Federal Government moves toward adopting measures that identify how agency programs ultimately influence an agency’s ability to achieve its mission, the EEOC has continually worked to develop more meaningful measures that identify the effect our programs have in ensuring equal opportunity in the American workplace. Our new measures bring us closer to the ideal of capturing the results of our work.

The following table outlines key differences between the overall structure of our previous Strategic Plan, which guided the development of both the FY 2003 Annual Performance Plan and this report, as well as the structure in our new Strategic Plan. The new Strategic Plan for the first time includes outcome, results-based performance measures and a performance evaluation schedule. All of these revisions create powerful drivers to measure our program achievements and provide a clear articulation of the agency’s priorities.

Verification and Validation of Data

The EEOC continues to make significant progress in implementing its five-year technology plan, which is critical for ensuring the reliability and integrity of the agency’s data. Data accuracy and reliability are necessary for effec