EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
STATE OF EEO IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

• In FY 2004, there were 2.6 million women and men employed by the federal government across the country and around the world.
  • 57.1% were men and 42.9% were women, a ratio which has changed only slightly in the last ten years.
  • 7.5% were Hispanic, 18.2% were Black, 5.8% were Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, 1.7% were American Indians/Alaskan Natives and 66.9% were White.
  • Between FY 2003 to FY 2004, there was little change in the participation rates of Hispanics and White women within the federal work force. These groups remain below their availability in the national civilian labor force as reported in the 2000 census.
  • The number of employees with targeted disabilities has been steadily declining in the past ten years from 31,359 in FY1995 to 25,917 in FY 2004. In FY 2004, individuals with targeted disabilities were less than one percent (0.99%) of the total work force.
  • Women have made the most gains in securing senior level positions in the federal government, occupying 25.7% of those positions in FY 2004, up from 18.5% in FY 1995.
  • The average grade level for General Schedule federal employees (permanent and temporary) was 9.9. Hispanics (9.2), Blacks (8.9) and American Indians/Alaskan Natives (8.3) all had average grade levels lower than the government-wide average.
  • The average General Schedule grade for women was 9.1, nearly two grades below the average grade level for men of 10.7.
  • The average General Schedule grade level for people with targeted disabilities was 8.4, nearly two grades below the government-wide average (for permanent and temporary employees) of 9.9.
• In FY 2004, EEOC Form 462 reports were timely filed by 106 reporting agencies and EEOC Form 715-01 reports were timely filed by 71 of the reporting agencies.
• In FY 2004, 17,878 individuals filed 19,024 complaints against the federal government alleging employment discrimination.
• The number of complaints filed declined by 5.9% from the number filed the previous year, and there was a 1.1% decrease in the number of individuals who filed complaints over the same period. Six percent (6.0%) of the complaints filed were by individuals who had already filed at least one other complaint during the year.
• Pre-complaint EEO counseling and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs addressed many employee concerns before they resulted in a formal EEO complaint. Of the 42,412 instances of counseling in FY 2004, 50.7% did not result in the filing of a formal complaint due to either settlement by the parties or withdrawal of the complaint.
• Federal agencies, as a whole, continued to exceed the regulatory time frames for investigating EEO complaints. There was a total of 11,876 investigations completed government-wide in FY 2004 in an average of 280 days. Regulations require these investigations to be completed in 180 days or less, unless voluntarily extended no more than 90 days or where the complaint is amended or consolidated. Using these regulatory standards, only 5,076, or 42.7%, of the investigations were timely completed.
• Agencies issued 6,186 merit decisions without a decision by an EEOC Administrative Judge, and 2,695 (43.6%) of these decisions were timely issued.
• Since FY 2000, EEOC's hearings inventory has decreased by nearly 46.4% from 11,153 cases to 5,975 in FY 2004. The average processing time for a hearing was 355 days, a 15.7% reduction from FY 2003's average of 421 days.
• At the end of FY 2004, EEOC's appellate inventory stood at 3,634, a 69.5% reduction from the inventory high of 11,918 appeals in January 2000. The average processing time for appeals in FY 2004 was 207 days, a 27.4% reduction from FY 2003's average of 285 days.
• In FY 2004, agencies were required to pay monetary benefits totaling $29.7 million to EEO complainants in response to final agency decisions, settlement agreements, and final agency actions in which agencies agreed to fully implement EEOC Administrative Judge decisions. An additional $22.1 million was paid out in response to appellate decisions.
• In FY 2004, EEOC engaged in a vigorous proactive prevention program, reaching a record number of federal employees by providing over 200 training sessions and responding to nearly 12,000 requests for technical assistance.

This page was last modified on April 19, 2005.

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