FY 2006 Performance Budget

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

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Table of Contents

1. FISCAL YEAR 2006 PERFORMANCE BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS
2. INTEGRATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE PERFORMANCE BUDGET
3. 1. Staffing and Funding Profile
   2. • Table 1: Total Agency Staffing and Funding Profile by Strategic Objective and Program
   3. Analysis of Change
   4. Analysis of Change - Highlights
   5. Appropriation Language
   6. Object Class Schedule - Agency Summary
4. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1 - JUSTICE AND OPPORTUNITY
5. 1. Introduction
   2. • Table 2: FY 2006 Budget Request Summary for Justice and Opportunity
   3. Performance Measures for Strategic Objective 1 – Justice and Opportunity
   4. Private Sector Enforcement
   5. • Chart 1: Private Sector Charges Pending Inventory For Fiscal Years 2003 through 2006
      • Table 3: Private Sector Enforcement Program Workload Table
      • Table 4: Workload/Workflow by Statute
      • Chart 2: Litigation Inventory
      • Table 5: Litigation Workload Projections
      • Table 6: State and Local Workload Projections
   6. Federal Sector Enforcement
   7. • Table 7: Hearings Workload Projections
      • Chart 3: Hearing Workload Received, Resolved, and Pending For Fiscal Years 2003 through 2006
      • Table 8: Appeals Workload Projections
      • Chart 4: Federal Sector Appeals Received, Resolved, and Pending Inventory For Fiscal Years 2004 through 2006
   8. Object Class Schedule – Strategic Objective 1: Justice and Opportunity
6. INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE
7. 1. Introduction
   2. • Table 9: FY2006 Budget Request Summary for Inclusive Workplace
   3. Performance Measures for Strategic Objective 2 – Inclusive Workplace
   4. Key Prevention Initiatives
   5. Summary of Financing for the Revolving Fund
   6. Object Class Schedule – Strategic Objective 2: Inclusive Workplace
   7. Object Class Schedule – EEOC Education, Technical Assistance, and Training Revolving Fund
8. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3 - ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE
9. 1. Introduction
   2. Meeting the President's Management Agenda
   3. Highlighted Areas for Strategic Objective 3
   4. • Table 10: Highlighted Resource Area in Organizational Excellence
   5. Performance Measures for Strategic Objective 3 – Organizational Excellence
10. VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF DATA
11. PROGRAM EVALUATION
12. GENERAL STATEMENT OF LAWS
13. ADDENDUM: INTERIM ADJUSTMENTS TO STRATEGIC PLAN

I. FISCAL YEAR 2006 PERFORMANCE BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is requesting a budget of $331,228,000 for fiscal year 2006. This request represents an increase of $4.4 million over the fiscal year 2005 level. The budget would allow EEOC to continue its enforcement and outreach while repositioning the agency for improved service.

This fiscal year 2006 performance budget fully integrates our budget request with our Strategic Plan objectives and performance measures. The resources requested will help us meet our mission and provide the American public with the quality of service they deserve.

EEOC has a long-held standard of providing quality service to the public. Our FY 2006 budget reflects our continued emphasis on quality. Quality of service – prompt, responsive, professional service – must drive all we do. Quality service begins by meeting customer needs at their first contact with the agency. Thus, our budget request reflects resources needed to continue our progress towards achievement of more customer-centered, performance-driven, results-oriented, mission-connected agency objectives. Our first priority is to cover costs associated with employee salaries and benefits. Attracting and retaining high performing employees require competitive compensation and benefits programs.

The Commission continues to provide quality service through its enforcement and prevention efforts. In FY 2006, we will continue several key outreach initiatives as part of our proactive prevention efforts, as well as shore up our private sector and federal sector enforcement programs. Our key outreach initiatives include – the Youth Initiative, the Small and Mid-sized Employer Initiative, and the President's New Freedom Initiative.

In September 2004, the EEOC launched its Youth at Work Initiative to educate students and teenage workers about their rights and responsibilities in the workplace. Recent trends reflect an increase in reports of discrimination against student and youth workers, particularly in the retail and service industries. With our resources, we will continue our outreach activities to the student and youth populations in this country. We strive to ensure that equality of opportunity is provided to all workers from the beginning of their work careers, particularly to those who are new to the workplace environment.

In addition, we will continue outreach activities toward small and mid-sized companies. Our enforcement statistics reflect that these two groups of businesses account for over 50% of our charge receipts. With this trend in charge filings, we need to ensure our outreach efforts are matched to the employer communities where there is a need for further education. It is critical that our Proactive Prevention efforts are geared toward reaching this vital employer base with information that demonstrates to these businesses the benefits of fostering an inclusive workplace.

In support of the President's New Freedom Initiative, we will continue to work with state governments on strategies to promote the employment of people with disabilities. We will continue reviews of state best practices for the employment of people with disabilities and publish a report on these best practices in FY 2006.

A key component of our enforcement strategy is the continued emphasis on the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as an effective tool to resolve charges of discrimination. We have successfully managed inventory and charge processing time through effective use of mediation. We will continue this effort in FY 2006.

Also, the Commission continues efforts to better serve the federal sector workforce during a time when federal agencies are in the process of transforming their organizations to meet the evolving needs and demands of the public. Our Management Directive 715, effective October 1, 2003, provides for the Commission to be a proactive partner with federal agencies by assisting in the identification of barriers in the workplace and providing agencies with guidance and information on best practices and recommendations for eliminating barriers and creating a culture that promotes an inclusive workforce.

Our litigation program is an important part of our overall enforcement efforts. The cost to file and prosecute cases continues to rise. The filing of high impact litigation not only provides compensation to aggrieved individuals but often results in significant changes to employers' policies which benefit entire workforces. The litigation program also provides incentive for early resolutions during the Agency's administrative enforcement process, including through pre-cause determination mediation and during the conciliation process. We also believe that publicity of high impact litigation and other cases serves to increase employer compliance.

We are joined by our 92 State and Local partners, Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs), in our vital enforcement role. The partnership we have with the FEPAs around the nation is a critical component to our success. Additionally, we continue our support to the 64 Tribal Employment Rights Organizations (TEROs), providing outreach and training to address the specific equal employment issues facing the Native American community.

These efforts are discussed in more detail under Strategic Objectives 1 and 2. See the Analysis of Change Table, Subsection II C, on page 15 for a breakdown of the requested increase.

Consistent with the President's Management Agenda (PMA), we have undertaken efforts to examine our operations and pursue strategies that make for a more customer-centered, results-oriented and performance-driven agency. An enhanced organizational infrastructure is critical to our ability to meet these standards and further our third and final Strategic Objective, Organizational Excellence. In pursuit of these goals, we commissioned the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to conduct an agency evaluation to inform our efforts. The FY 2002 publication of NAPA's findings and recommendations was followed by extensive consultations involving stakeholder groups, a public Commission meeting, and meetings with members of Congress and their staffs, as well as EEOC employees.

In FY 2006, we are continuing to evaluate our operations and reposition the Commission for the 21st century. Our goal is to improve EEOC's service delivery infrastructure, performance and operational efficiency through a series of projects, including implementation of the President's Management Agenda. We discuss our efforts to implement each element of the PMA under Strategic Objective 3, Organizational Excellence, page 64.

Our technological infrastructure is critical to our ability to work more efficiently and strategically. Advances in technology are helping to transform the way private and public organizations work and serve their customers and the general public. Maintaining useful information technology will help our employees be as productive as possible. We must continue to use technology to conduct business more efficiently as we move toward greater electronic interaction with our customers and transformed business processes. Over the past several years, EEOC has completed several major information technology E-GOV projects that streamlined internal processes, reduced paperwork burden, integrated data, and allowed the Agency to work more efficiently.

In FY 2006 we will continue the National Contact Center (NCC) pilot. We expect the NCC to become operational in the second half of FY 2005, with the first full year of operation occurring in FY 2006. The two year pilot program will end in early FY 2007, at which point we will have sufficient data to assess the contact center function.

These efforts furthers our third and final Strategic Objective, Organizational Excellence. See the Analysis of Change Table, Subsection II C, on page 15 for a breakdown of the requested increase.

II. INTEGRATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE PERFORMANCE BUDGET

The structure of the performance budget for fiscal year 2006 is based on our Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2004-2009, which was implemented on October 1, 2003. This performance budget integrate our strategic objectives, the EEOC's operational Five-Point Plan, the President's Management Agenda, and important program initiatives. With our requested resources for fiscal year 2006, we will continue to focus on our strategic objectives to fulfill our mission and achieve our goals.

EEOC's Strategic Objectives and Five-Point Plan provide the framework for accomplishing our agency's mission. The Five-Point 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.

Prevention is a critical part of the agency's mission. We intend to allocate more resources to support prevention/initiatives - outreach, education and technical assistance, beginning in FY 2005. We aim to make full use of all the agency's tools to combat discrimination in the workplace. Both enforcement and prevention are vital to achieving our mission and serving the American public.

Through strategic enforcement and proactive prevention, we will advance the agency's mission and meet our strategic objectives. This overall framework also guides our results-based performance measures from fiscal year 2004 through fiscal year 2009. These inter-relationships are illustrated in the three charts on the following pages. Fiscal year 2006 annual targets to achieve results are discussed in Sections III, IV and V.

A. Staffing and Funding Profile

Table 1 below displays the EEOC's total agency staffing and funding profile by Strategic Objective and programs for fiscal years 2004 through 2006.

B. Analysis of Change

C. Analysis of Change - Highlights

D. Appropriation Language

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
SALARIES AND EXPENSES

For necessary expenses of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as authorized by title VII of the Civil Rights Act of the 1064 (29 U.S.C. 206(d) and 621-634), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, including services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109; hire of passenger motor vehicles as authorized by 31 U.S.C. 1343(b); non-monetary awards to private citizens; and not to exceed $33,000,000 for payments to the State and local enforcement agencies for services to the Commission pursuant to title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, sections 6 and 14 of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, $331,228,000: Provided, That the Commission is authorized to make available for official reception and representation expenses not to exceed $2,500 from available funds [: Provided further, That the Commission may take no action to implement any workforce repositioning, restructuring, or reorganization until such time as the Committees on Appropriations have been notified of such proposals, in accordance with the reprogramming provisions of section 605 of this Act: Provided further, That the Commission shall not have fewer field position in fiscal year 2005 than in fiscal year 2004.] (Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005.)

E. Object Class Schedule - Agency Summary

Requirements by Object Class
(Dollars in thousands*)

*may not add due to rounding>

III. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1 - JUSTICE AND OPPORTUNITY

A. Introduction

Our first Strategic Objective – Justice and Opportunity – is premised on the belief that our fundamental responsibility is to correct the wrongs of employment discrimination and bring justice and equal opportunity to the workplace. To fulfill this responsibility, we must improve our delivery of quality services to the public. We must enhance the public's confidence in our abilities to resolve charges of discrimination in a timely, accurate, and consistent manner. Our front-line enforcement programs in the private and federal sectors require a substantial investment in resources to ensure that we are able to contain an expanding workload.

The budget request for fiscal year 2006 for Justice and Opportunity is $281,544,000. This amount will enable us to maintain needed enforcement staff who can address the growing private sector workload. We will continue efforts to decrease the number of hearings cases and address a workload of appeals cases in the federal sector. We will also continue efforts to promote mediation/ADR at all levels of the federal sector EEO complaint process in order to resolve workplace disputes early, thereby saving resources and enabling agencies to focus on their core missions. In addition, these resources will enable us to maintain a litigation program that includes a balance between individual and high impact, resource-intensive cases.

Finally, the resources will support our endeavors to meet the thirteen (13) performance measures under three elements of our Five-Point Plan that are included under Strategic Objective 1 in EEOC's Strategic Plan: Proficient Resolution; Promote and Expand Mediation/ADR; and Strategic Enforcement and Litigation. We separately discuss each performance measure throughout this section of our performance budget.

In our Strategic Plan, we identified many different types of measures for the agency. Several involve using primarily external surveys to collect information; establishing baseline and target values of results the agency expects to achieve over several years and measuring the actual results achieved.

Measure 1.1.5 is one of the indicators where we intend to use surveys to establish our target goals and measure our success. We anticipate surveying members of the public to determine how familiar they are with our enforcement efforts and to what extent they believe that we have responsibly and effectively addressed workplace discrimination. Our assumption is that they will come to us for assistance and trust in our capability to handle their complaint if they know their rights and responsibilities and believe that we will address workplace discrimination. If we are viewed as a fair and just enforcer of the civil rights employment laws, employers, employees, attorneys and members of the general public will have confidence in our impartial role as a law enforcement agency.

Table 2, below, outlines our budget request for the agency's enforcement programs under Strategic Objective 1 - Justice and Opportunity, for fiscal years 2004 through 2006. Table 3 on page 29 shows the overall workload for activities under the private sector enforcement program. The programs, the requested budget, and our performance measures are described in more detail in subsequent sections.

*may not add due to rounding

B. Performance Measures for Strategic Objective 1 – Justice and Opportunity

Our Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2004-2009 links our broad Strategic Objectives to the agency's Five Point Plan. Strategic Objective 1, Justice and Opportunity, relates to three of the elements of our Five-Point Plan – Proficient Resolution, Promote and Expand Mediation/ADR and Strategic Enforcement and Litigation. It also identifies our long-term goals to achieve results in each of these areas. The performance measures are in the following table. Target values for fiscal year 2006, and the results we expect to achieve with each measure, are described in subsequent sections.

*TBD= To Be Determined
‡ Text of these measures was changed from the text in the Strategic Plan. See Section IX, Addendum : Interim Adjustments to Strategic Plan for an explanation.

C. Private Sector Enforcement

Charge Processing

As part of the emphasis of our mission-driven responsibility to enforce the federal equal employment opportunity laws, we also recognize that we must be sufficiently prepared to meet emerging trends and issues in the workplace. One such issue is the increasing rise of reported discrimination against this country's youngest workers. In an effort to enhance the agency's enforcement mission, we will continue to reach our nation's youth and their employers so that they, too, can benefit from our efforts to promote equality of opportunity in the workplace and ensure the enforcement of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. This will leave us well-positioned to identify specific cases that when filed or resolved will have a broad impact on the issues facing America's youth/teens in the workplace.

In FY 2004, our resolutions declined by 3% compared to FY 2003 and we ended the year with a pending inventory of 29,966. Additionally, we have maintained our average processing time – with 165 days in FY 2004. As reflected in Table 3, we project that our workload will grow in fiscal years 2005 and 2006.

Chart 1: Private Sector Charges Pending Inventory
For Fiscal Years 2003 through 2006

Image

Existing resources will support our endeavors to meet performance measures under this program. Measure 1.1.1. establishes a goal for fiscal year 2009 to resolve 75% of our private sector charges in 180 days or fewer. This overall goal will help us build upon our steady success in recent years in reducing the average time to process private sector charges. Towards that end, our FY 2004 target was to process 65% of the charges in 180 days or fewer. We processed 67.1% of our resolved private sector charges in the time frame; exceeding the target. Our target for fiscal year 2005 is increased to 70%. We anticipate maintaining this level for fiscal year 2006, because the 70% level balances prompt service in our private sector processes with the need to devote resources to charges that take longer to process because meritorious or complex claims are involved. The 70% goal is an ambitious and challenging one, given the projected increases in inventory and overall workload, as well as the need to ensure high quality service.

Another of our measures for the private sector balances our efforts to achieve more timely charge processing and ensuring that the quality of our work is maintained. Measure 1.1.4. uses methodologies and more detailed criteria to assess the quality of our charge processing. In fiscal year 2004, we met our target to define the criteria that will be used to assess the quality of our investigative files and developed a system to collect the information to gauge results. In FY 2005, we will determine our baseline value and establish targets for FY 2006 through FY 2009 to measure our success.

Measure 1.3.1. involves a joint effort of our enforcement programs to measure the effect private sector charge and litigation resolutions have on improvements in the workplace. We know that settlements and conciliation agreements, obtained during the processing of a charge of discrimination, or consent decrees and favorable court orders obtained during EEOC litigation, have an impact on the workplace. It is important, however, to measure these resolutions which improve employment policies, practices or procedures at the workplace. In fiscal year 2004, we developed approaches to obtain more detailed information by modifying our existing charge data base, so that we can collect the information that will allow us to establish a baseline value in fiscal year 2005, set intermediate targets for fiscal years 2006 through 2008, and a final goal for fiscal year 2009. Initially, we sought to use a survey to collect this data. However, upon further examination and clearly defining data needed to assess improvements to employment policies, practices and procedures, we decided to utilize a more cost effective approach to assessing the results of the measure. The methodology adopted utilizes data collected from the agency's database on private sector resolutions to assess the results of this measure.

Table 3 below shows our workload projections for our Private Sector Enforcement program and our mediation efforts for fiscal years 2004–2006. Table 4 on page 31 provides workload estimates by statute for fiscal years 2004–2006.

*May not add due to rounding.

Mediation/ADR Workload and Initiatives

Our private sector mediation program is an important tool for resolving charges quickly to the benefit of both employees and employers. The program has been very successful and has contributed to our ability over the past few years to reduce our inventory and resolve more charges in 180 days or fewer.

As part of our contract program, FEPAs may compete for our contract mediation funds, in addition to the amount of funds provided for enforcement activities under the State and Local component of our appropriation. This opportunity recognizes the progress that some in the FEPA community have made in incorporating the critical components of our ADR program into their own enforcement efforts and which allow us to benefit from their skills through their mediation of charges that would otherwise be processed by EEOC.

We have three performance measures that will help us gauge the success of our private sector mediation efforts. Measure 1.2.1 assesses the contributions our mediation program makes towards improved workplaces. Measure 1.2.2 seeks to increase the number of employers agreeing to mediate. Measure 1.2.3 gauges the level of confidence of participating charging parties and employers in the agency mediation program.

A key aspect of success for our mediation program is the impact it has on the workplace. Measure 1.2.1 will enable us to assess the contributions our mediation program makes toward improved workplaces. As expressed in the target, initially, we planned to conduct a program evaluation for this measure. However, we devised a more cost effective approach, similar to Measure 1.3.1, to assess the results of this measure. In fiscal year 2004, we began to develop procedures and criteria to collect information in our charge database to assess the impact of the private sector mediation program towards improved workplaces. Once this information is collected and analyzed, we will establish targets for FY 2005 through FY 2009.

While participants almost uniformly view our mediation program favorably, the number of employers agreeing to mediate is considerably less than the number of charging parties agreeing to mediate. A past independent study of our mediation program identified several key reasons that made employers reluctant to participate in EEOC's mediation program. The study found that employers principally decline mediation because either they have conducted their own internal investigation and believe the specific charge to be without merit, or they have concluded that EEOC will not issue a reasonable cause finding and prefer to let the charge through the investigative process. In FY 2004, we implemented a new performance measure to increase the number of charges in which employers agree to mediate. We established the target for FY 2004 to maintain the FY 2003 level of employer acceptances. We achieved this target by maintaining the baseline range. During FY 2004, 13,100 employers agreed to participate, which is 77 below the FY 2003 level of 13,177, but is within 0.5% of the baseline. This represents a maintenance of the FY 2003 baseline range. We are continuing our efforts to increase the number of employers agreeing to participate in our mediation program. However, we face several challenges in meeting this measure and will be assessing our performance to identify the resources and other activities needed to reach the target in future years.

Finally, Measure 1.2.3 will help us maintain a high level of confidence of those charging parties and employers who participate in our mediation program. Our past results from survey information, asking participants whether they would use the mediation program again, demonstrated at least a 90% confidence level in our program. In FY 2004, using the same survey, we questioned a sample of mediation participants and achieved a 95.6% confidence level, surpassing the target for FY 2004.

Litigation

The importance of a strong litigation program to effectively enforce our statutes cannot be overstated. Not only does it provide relief to many victims of discrimination who may have no other recourse, we also believe it serves as an incentive for other employers to settle cases earlier in our administrative enforcement process, rather than to face the matter in a court of law. In addition, we believe that publicity regarding our high impact cases and other litigation increases employer compliance with the civil rights laws we enforce.

The Agency estimates filing 300 new lawsuits in fiscal year 2006. This figure represents less than one half of one percent of the approximately 84,000 charges EEOC projects for FY 2006. Our projected workload of 795 cases is a small reduction in the workload from past years. In addition to their litigation function, field legal staff perform a wide range of other functions: They provide advice and counsel to enforcement staff in all phases of the administrative process of private sector charges; they process thousands of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests received from the public each year; and they participate in Agency outreach programs under Strategic Objective 2.

Chart 2 below depicts the estimated Litigation inventory including the number of lawsuits filed, pending lawsuits and resolutions for the fiscal years 2004 through 2006.

Chart 2: Litigation Inventory
For Fiscal Years 2004 through 2006

Image

While we plan to continue to file 300 to 400 cases per year, the effectiveness of our litigation program cannot be measured only by the number of cases we file. Also, obtaining monetary benefits is crucial to the fulfillment of our public interest role. However, it is only part of positive change that can be brought about by our enforcement and litigation programs. We have begun to capture empirical data and report on the prospective improvements in the workplace garnered through our enforcement efforts.

Consistent with the Agency's Strategic Plan, we plan to use our resources more strategically to litigate more cases that have a high impact on reducing discrimination and removing barriers in the workplace. High impact cases frequently affect large numbers of individuals, including individuals not party to a case, and can lead to positive changes throughout a wide geographical area, industry, or employer community. Such cases can be more resource intensive at times, but often may involve less expense where developing legal issues are of primary concern.

We adopted Measure 1.3.2 to address our high impact litigation and the subsequent publicity that results from that litigation. This measure will assess how this litigation and publicity changes the workforce status of affected groups and/or improves employment policies, practices, or procedures in affected workplaces. In FY 2004, we defined the type of cases that constitute our "high impact litigation" and how we will measure any "change in workforce status." Throughout FY 2005 and FY 2006, we will initiate steps to collect information to assist us in measuring the impact of our litigation and to develop approaches for improving our efforts to achieve greater results.

Measure 1.3.3 will ensure that we maintain a high success rate for resolving our lawsuits at 90% or higher. A five year study of our litigation program demonstrated that we have achieved this rate of success in the recent past. It is important for us to maintain this high success rate to aid our efforts to deter and remedy discrimination in the workplace. Throughout the entire period from FY 2004 through FY 2009, we expect to maintain at least the 90% level using a 6-year rolling average of successful lawsuits to account for minor year-to-year fluctuations that can result from a limited database of observations. For FY 2004, we met our target and achieved a success rate of 92.2%.

State and Local Contracts

The Commission continues to enjoy strong partnerships with state and local Fair Employment Practice Agencies (FEPAs) and Native American Tribal Employment Rights Organizations (TEROs) throughout the country. In addition to the work-sharing agreements with state and local agencies for the purpose of coordinating the investigation of charges dual-filed under state and local law, and federal law where appropriate, we have engaged in joint training and outreach initiatives which benefit both the employee and employer communities. During fiscal year 2004, we contracted with 92 FEPAs to resolve dual-filed charges, thereby preventing duplication of effort and streamlining the charge resolution process. We also contracted with 64 TEROs during fiscal year 2004. These organizations help EEOC with targeted outreach by promoting equal employment opportunity on or near Indian reservations.

These collaborative efforts have proved beneficial in advancing equal employment opportunity nationwide. We plan to continue our collaborations with both the FEPAs and TEROs in future years and will continually look for opportunities that will allow us to enhance these valuable partnerships that are mutually beneficial.

D. Federal Sector Enforcement

Our Federal sector program has a unique role in ensuring that all Federal applicants have the freedom to compete in the workplace on a fair and level playing field and to be judged on the merit of their performance and not on the basis of their race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, or disability. Our hearings and appellate enforcement efforts and our monitoring, guidance, and assistance activities help us achieve our purposes. We plan to continue reducing the age of the complaint inventory by utilizing approaches that will yield swifter processing. We also will continue our recent success in controlling the growth of the appellate inventory while ensuring that appeals are resolved in a fair and efficient manner. Using the guidance and principles contained in the landmark MD 715, which became effective October 1, 2003, the Commission will evaluate the progress of Federal agencies in creating effective equal employment opportunity programs. We will monitor plans submitted by the Federal agencies to the EEOC to identify and remove barriers to free and open competition in the workplace. With the implementation of MD 715 and our focus on establishing effective relationship programs with agencies, we will deliver relevant and helpful information, training, and EEO solutions to Federal agencies.

In addition to the contributions the Federal sector enforcement program makes to the achievement of Measure 1.1.5 (the measure was discussed in the introduction to performance results for Strategic Objective 1: Justice and Opportunity), the Federal sector enforcement program has four additional performance measures for FY 2006.

Federal Sector Improvements – Hearings

Increased efforts by our hearings program to utilize early case assessment as a tool to expedite the processing of cases along with the continued use of ADR in the hearings program has aided in the proficient resolution of cases in FY 2004. We have targeted a higher rate in FY 2005 and FY 2006. The increased use of ADR provides the parties with a setting to mutually resolve their complaints without the need for a formal hearing and has reduced the overall processing time in the Federal sector. The incidence of future complaints is also affected by improving communication between parties through mediation and other forms of ADR.

In fiscal year 2006, proficient resolution will be supported by an improved federal complaint system to ensure timely resolutions. Measure 1.1.2. sets our long-range goal to increase the rate to 50% for Federal sector hearings to be resolved in 180 days or fewer. We had a target of 35% in FY 2004 and achieved a rate of 32.8%. We believe our results were affected by two factors, specifically our focus on reducing the aged inventory and the inter-district transfer of cases. In FY 2004, we targeted the oldest cases in our inventory for resolution, which meant we were not able to devote as much attention to new complaints. Because of staffing imbalances in our field offices, we had to utilize complaint transfers to shift our workload, and, as a result, it took more time for these cases to be processed. We have raised our target for FY 2005 and FY 2006 to resolve 38% and 40%, respectively, of our hearings in 180 days or fewer.

We intend to achieve these goals by using coordinated initiatives we began in FY 2004 to provide substantive and operational support and oversight towards the resolution of hearings cases to help prepare decisions more expeditiously. Our administrative judges, who conduct the hearings on discrimination complaints filed against Federal agencies, will be provided additional guidance and assistance. The hearings workload will be monitored by analyzing hearings data and evaluating staffing needs and the quality of administrative judges' work. We will continue to expand the use of ADR to resolve complaints at the hearings stage. Federal sector appellate legal tools will be made available to assist administrative judges in processing hearings efficiently by making available fully researched and computerized legal language for inclusion in findings and decisions and fully-searchable past decisions on our Intranet site.

Table 7 - below shows the overall hearing inventory for fiscal years 2004 through 2006. We expect to continue making significant inroads into resolving our pending inventory of hearings cases and resolving more complaints at the hearings stage in 180 days or fewer.

Chart 3: Hearing Workload Received, Resolved, and Pending
For Fiscal Years 2003 through 2006

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Appeals and Oversight of Federal EEO Programs

Our federal sector program adjudicates appeals from administrative decisions made by federal agencies on complaints of employment discrimination filed by federal employees or applicants for federal employment. The federal sector program has fully implemented the Proficient Resolution component of the Commission's Five-Point Plan by streamlining operations to make its appellate adjudicatory body more efficient with the result that we have dramatically reduced the number, age, and processing time of pending appeals. In fiscal year 2003, we reduced the appellate inventory more than 26% from FY 2002 levels, and we reduced the inventory of appeals more than 500 days old by 76%. We also processed 44% of the appeals received in fiscal year 2003 in 180 days or fewer. We have continued these trends in fiscal year 2004 with the result that the age of our pending appellate inventory is at 171 days, a more than 33% reduction from the end of fiscal year 2002.

In Table 8, we project that while new appeals will increase we will be able to effectively manage the appellate inventory through strategically designed appellant inventory management projects and technological innovations.

Chart 4: Federal Sector Appeals Received, Resolved, and Pending Inventory
For Fiscal Years 2004 through 2006

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Resources will support our endeavors to meet performance measures in our appellate program. Measure 1.1.3. demonstrates the significant results we have achieved over the years by timely completing more of the appellate cases. We have a goal to resolve 70% of our Federal sector appeals in 180 days or fewer by FY 2009. We set a goal for FY 2004 to resolve 45% of the new appeals received within this time frame. Even though there was an 11% increase in new appeals, we contained the growth of the appellate inventory and continued our progress to ensure that we met this target with 51.8% of new appeals resolved in 180 days or fewer.

We have had an appeals measure of this type since FY 2000. With a relatively high and aged workload, we initially established targets based on the appeals received and resolved within a specific fiscal year; helping us to simultaneously work on new appeals coming into the workload while using some of our resources to resolve the aging inventory. We used this approach in FY 2004 and will continue using it for FY 2005. For FY 2006, however, we will be revising the method we use to calculate the appellate resolutions to mirror the way we measure the timeliness of charge resolutions in the private sector and hearings resolutions in the Federal sector. We will include in the calculation all appellate cases regardless of the fiscal year they were filed.

By fiscal year 2006, using this new and more challenging approach, we will increase the rate of resolving appeals in 180 days or fewer to 55%. This target will help us continue to make steady gains towards our long-range target as many of the streamlining efforts and other federal sector reforms take hold. As the federal sector enforcement staff successfully resolve the older appellate inventory, resources will be deployed to resolve an increasing percentage of newly filed appeals in 180 days or fewer. We expect to achieve our goal in this area with staffing adjustments, appellate inventory management pilots and technological improvements.

Using ADR can have a powerful impact on Federal agencies' EEO complaint inventories and, in turn, EEOC's hearings and appeals inventories. Resolving disputes as early as possible in the Federal sector EEO process will improve the work environment and reduce the number of formal complaints, allowing all agencies, including the EEOC, to redeploy resources otherwise devoted to these activities.

With Measure 1.2.4., we aim to increase the use of ADR techniques at the pre-complaint stage in the Federal sector; the stage before a formal complaint is filed with a Federal agency. The Commission's efforts in promoting and expanding mediation/ADR at all stages of the Federal EEO complaint process appear to be having a positive effect on Federal agencies' EEO complaint inventories. As more agencies expand their efforts to offer ADR during the informal process, we expect to see continued decreases in the number of formal complaints filed, which will reduce costs for complainants and all Federal agencies, and enable an agency to focus resources on its primary mission.

The goal for Measure 1.2.4 is to increase ADR participation to 50% or higher at the pre-complaint stage by FY 2009. Our FY 2004 target was 25%. Since Federal agencies do not report their information to the EEOC until the middle of the first quarter of FY 2005, we will provide the information on the achievement of this target as soon as possible after the reporting period ends.

In fiscal years 2003 and 2004, the Commission partnered with 22 federal agencies to identify best practices, provide technical assistance, and develop strategic plans to improve the quality and effectiveness of the partner agencies' ADR programs. The Commission will publish the results in a comprehensive ADR study. In fiscal years 2005 and 2006, the Commission will expand its partnership with federal agencies beyond the initial 22 agencies, and utilize the best practices showcased in its ADR study to assist agencies in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their ADR programs. A key component of the Commission's strategy to assist agencies in developing effective ADR programs will be the delivery of specialized ADR training modules to federal agencies. This training initiative is designed to increase federal managers' participation in the ADR process, to make ADR available to a larger number of federal employees, and to improve the effectiveness of mediators engaged in resolving workplace disputes involving EEO matters.

One of the most important mechanisms in our Federal sector program is our authority to conduct evaluations of Federal agency EEO programs. To better implement the Commission's focus on establishing effective relationships with Federal employers, we will conduct these assessments to assist agencies in establishing model EEO programs. Using targeted evaluations, combined with the new self-assessment tools and checklists in MD 715, we will help Federal agencies assess the effectiveness and efficiency of their EEO programs and identify whether there are barriers precluding them from effectively utilizing their entire workforce in accomplishing their missions. We will periodically issue evaluative reports on a wide variety of topics in order to share government-wide, as appropriate, valuable information to assist agencies in developing model EEO programs.

The results of these Federal sector activities, included under Measure 1.3.4, will be assessed with a Program Evaluation study in FY 2009. For FY 2005, we will be defining and evaluating steps to take to prepare for this evaluation. Through our Relationship Manager project, we were able to conduct evaluation pilots of six agencies EEO programs. We will use information obtained from pilot evaluations to assist our planning efforts in preparation for the program evaluation scheduled in FY 2009.

E. Object Class Schedule – Strategic Objective 1: Justice and Opportunity

*may not add due to rounding

IV. INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE

A. Introduction

Under our Inclusive Workplace Strategic Objective, we made strides in FY 2004 achieving increased voluntary compliance with the Federal equal employment opportunity laws and increased individual awareness and understanding of rights and responsibilities under those laws. Three of the performance measures in our Strategic Plan for this Objective are associated with the Proactive Prevention element of our Five-Point Plan.

Our budget request for FY 2006 for this Strategic Objective is $49,684,000, not including the Revolving Fund. The proposed request will allow us to maintain our outreach efforts, getting our message out to employers and employees, students and educators in diverse communities throughout the country, achieving increased awareness of, and compliance with, EEO laws and reducing discrimination in the workplace.

*may not add due to rounding

B. Performance Measures for Strategic Objective 2 – Inclusive Workplace

Our Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2004-2009 links our broad Strategic Objectives to the agency's Five-Point Plan. Strategic Objective 2, Inclusive Workplace, relates to one of the elements of our Five-Point Plan–Proactive Prevention. The performance measures are listed below, followed by a discussion for each.

*TBD=To Be Determined

Resources will support our endeavors to meet our three performance measures under this Strategic Objective. Two of these measures focus on the real world impact of our prevention efforts and signal EEOC's enhanced emphasis in our Strategic Plan to use a range of strategies to prevent employment discrimination from occurring in the first place.

Measure 2.1.1 affords us an opportunity to determine the percentage of employer representatives who improve their workplaces as a result of their participation in one of our outreach or technical assistance programs. To evaluate this measure in FY 2004, we conducted a limited year-end survey sampling of fee-based outreach, primarily targeted to private sector audiences. The initial sampling yielded a rather high rate of workplace changes made. We did not establish a baseline level and targets for FY 2005–2009 using the initial survey results. The results raised several questions about the approach used, including whether the responses and results should be differentiated between private sector and Federal sector audiences and what the impact will be of adding no-cost outreach to the sample in FY 2005. To ensure that the workplace changes reported are those we intended to address and that our measurement approach is sound, we will use FY 2005 to further refine and evaluate the measurement approaches for Measure 2.1.1. We plan to set a baseline and specific targets for FY 2006 through FY 2009.

Successfully implementing the Model EEO Program outlined in MD 715 will provide the infrastructure needed to achieve the ultimate goal of a discrimination-free work environment characterized by an atmosphere of inclusion and the free and open competition for employment opportunities. MD 715 describes six "essential elements" that are required to successfully implement a model EEO program at a Federal agency. Measure 2.1.2 establishes a final goal to successfully implement attributes of the Model EEO Program in 50% of the Federal agencies by FY 2009. During FY 2004, we issued MD 715 and implementation guidance, which provide agencies with a checklist for gauging progress in building a model EEO program. We provided training to Federal agencies on the implementation guidance. We are also in the process of designing a measurement index tool to assess agencies' model EEO program status. We will share the tool with appropriate agencies for input before the tool is finalized.

Measure 2.1.3 is also focused on the broad implications of our prevention efforts. Many of our past initiatives have provided people with the information they need to understand their rights and responsibilities under the equal employment opportunity laws we enforce. Individuals who know their rights, as well as their responsibilities, are more likely to properly understand discriminatory behaviors at the workplace, and know what to do about them. For example, individuals seeking jobs or currently working will have the information they need to evaluate and better distinguish whether a situation is discriminatory, and then know how to proceed to protect their rights. Equally important is the EEO awareness level of the individuals who are responsible for workplace policies, practices and procedures, so that they possess the information to critically assess whether their workplaces are contributing to a discriminatory environment and what their responsibilities are to change the situation.

C. Key Prevention Initiatives

The Five-Point Plan emphasizes Proactive Prevention - a belief that preventing discrimination is an important part of our mission. In fiscal year 2006, the agency will devote a significant portion of its resources to proactive prevention efforts. On the following pages, we highlight specific initiatives that will enable the agency to carry out its efforts to prevent or reduce discriminatory barriers to employment opportunities.

Student/Youth Initiative

According to the Department of Labor, there were 21.6 million Americans in the 16 - 24 age range employed at some point in 2002. The EEOC has seen, through charges filed and anecdotal evidence, that discrimination is a problem for many in this group. We will continue to educate high school students about an employer's responsibilities, including specific discussions on sexual harassment and how to complain if such harassment occurs on the job. We will reach out to local youth organizations to share the training material, and as resources allow, develop and present training to teenagers about workplace rights and responsibilities.

Small and Mid-sized Employer Initiative

This initiative focuses specifically on small and mid-sized companies. Through the initiative we will continue outreach efforts toward these companies. Our enforcement statistics reflect that these two groups of businesses account for over 50% of our charge receipts. With this trend in charge filings, we need to ensure our outreach efforts are matched to the employer communities where there is a need for further education.

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), small firms employ about half of the private sector workforce, and generate between two-thirds and three-quarters of the net new jobs. 20 This employer community contributes substantially to the growth of the nation's workforce and economy. It is critical that our Proactive Prevention efforts are geared toward reaching small to mid-sized employers – providing them with information that demonstrates the benefits of fostering an inclusive workplace.

Smaller employers are often without the resources and infrastructure that exist in large companies to address employment disputes. Our efforts to reach out to small and mid-sized companies will equip them with the information needed to comply with federal EEO laws and implement sound workplace practices. As a workplace partner, EEOC seeks to work with the employer community to proactively prevent discrimination through outreach, education and technical assistance. The materials and training that we will provide to these employers will assist them in identifying ways to promote a work environment that promotes equal employment opportunity.

The President's New Freedom Initiative

The goal of the President's New Freedom Initiative (NFI) is to fully integrate individuals with disabilities into all aspects of the nation's social and economic life.

The EEOC will continue its effort to review best practices for the employment of people with disabilities in state government, to disseminate these best practices (including through the agency's website, www.eeoc.gov), and to implement an aggressive training and technical assistance program to help states remove any barriers to employment that might exist. In addition, EEOC will continue to provide education and technical assistance to private employers and individuals with disabilities.

The EEOC's Freedom to Compete Initiative

We have implemented the EEOC's Freedom to Compete Initiative in a multi-phased approach. This initiative complements the NFI by fostering a level playing field for all individuals to have equal employment opportunities. During the first phase of the Initiative, we engaged a cross-section of stakeholders in a dialogue about EEOC and explored with them how we could broaden our presence and more proactively address 21st century workplace issues. During fiscal year 2006, we will partner, develop alliances and use other collaborative efforts to engage stakeholders in efforts to influence the opinions of leaders in the business community and drive change in the workplace. Our efforts will include speeches, roundtable discussions, Commission meetings, and public service announcements to reach a wide audience. We also will 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.

Federal Sector Programs

The Commission has championed a new approach toward creating a barrier-free, level playing field throughout the federal government. This new approach is captured in Management Directive 715, which was unanimously approved by the Commission and became effective government-wide on October 1, 2003. MD-715 is the roadmap for agencies to identify and remove barriers to equality of employment opportunity so that the American people can have a model federal work force which fully reflects everyone's contributions. With the resources requested for fiscal year 2006, our federal sector program will be able to effectively monitor the more than 200 agency plans required to be submitted annually to the Commission by federal agencies as part of their efforts to identify and eliminate barriers to equal employment opportunity.

We will work with agencies and provide tools and assistance to help them analyze their work forces and uncover barriers to equal employment opportunities. Once barriers are identified by agencies, we will collaborate with agencies as they develop creative strategies to eliminate or reduce the impact of obstacles identified. We will work with agencies to promote workplace policies and practices that foster an inclusive work culture and prevent employment discrimination. This effort includes working with federal agencies to adopt and successfully implement the attributes of the EEOC's Model EEO Program.

In fiscal year 2004, the Commission partnered with six federal agencies in a Relationship Management project to explore new ways for our federal sector staff to interact with agencies to ensure that we can assist agencies in creating more effective EEO programs. Applying the strategies and tools developed from the experiences of the relationship management project, we will be in a position to better establish a customer-oriented organization which can deliver relevant information and solutions to federal agencies' leadership.

The requested resources will also support our endeavors to meet performance Measure 2.1.2. under this Strategic Objective. Management Directive 715 describes six "Essential Elements" that are required to successfully implement a Model EEO Program at a federal agency. In fiscal year 2004, we have been developing an index using the essential elements in the Directive. We intend to establish a baseline value for the percentage of agencies who successfully implemented the Model EEO Program. Since the final goal for this measure is 50%, we will determine in fiscal year 2005 the target value for improving the percent each year in order to achieve our final result. Federal agencies only report the EEO information we need once each year, after the fiscal year ends. Consequently, we will report the results for this measure on a delayed basis.

Outreach - Education, Technical Assistance and Training

EEOC will continue to expand and enhance its outreach, education, training and technical assistance programs to meet the needs of diverse audiences, incorporating new and innovative approaches - particularly the Internet and other technologies and addressing rapidly changing demographics. We will continue to partner with the employer community and other stakeholders to foster strategies to recognize and prevent discrimination in the workplace.

Existing resources will also be used to form regional Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) advisory groups to continue building relationships with disability advocacy groups and other disability-related constituencies. Field staff in each region of the country will invite stakeholders to participate in regular meetings to discuss the best approaches, how to ensure that victims of disability discrimination have access to the EEOC to file a charge, and the development and litigation of meritorious ADA charges. One of the goals of the advisory groups would be to identify groups serving person with disabilities who may be discriminated against but who are not coming forward to file charges and to develop a plan to reach out to those individuals and/or groups. Another goal is to compile a list of experts in each region to assist with coverage issues, accommodation questions and other relevant issues which arise in ADA litigation.

Revolving Fund - Education, Technical Assistance and Training

The Revolving Fund Act enables EEOC to support a comprehensive public educational program, which includes both free outreach activities conducted by agency staff and fee-based, specialized services sponsored by the Revolving Fund. Congress established the EEOC Education, Technical Assistance and Training Revolving Fund ("Revolving Fund") in 1992 to empower the EEOC to use receipts of certain outreach events to maintain an active outreach program. The law creating the Fund authorizes EEOC to charge fees to offset the reasonable costs of developing and providing training, education and technical assistance through the Fund. Section 705 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended by adding the following authorizing language:

There is hereby established in the Treasury of the United States a revolving fund to be known as the 'EEOC Education, Technical Assistance, and Training Revolving Fund' (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the 'Fund') and to pay the cost (including administrative and personnel expenses) of providing education, technical assistance, and training relating to laws administered by the Commission. Monies in the Fund shall be available without fiscal year limitation to the Commission for such purposes.

By creating the Revolving Fund, Congress sought to provide the means for EEOC to offer in-depth and specialized programs that supplement the agency's general informational and outreach activities that are an ongoing aspect of EEOC's mission.

The Revolving Fund has transitioned into a competitive EEO educational services provider offering diverse, high quality, reasonably-priced EEO expertise and training products. A new organizational name, "the EEOC Training Institute," was created for the Revolving Fund Division to emphasize the professional nature and scope of the program, increase name recognition and loyalty by customers and expand the customer base. The EEOC Training Institute has enhanced and diversified its products and services and now offers five product/service lines: Technical Assistance Program Seminars (TAPS), a national federal sector conference, Customer Specific Training (CST), national courses, and direct sale of training products such as books, CD-Roms and curricula modules.

The one and two-day Technical Assistance Program Seminars provided by the Training Institute are responsive to employer requests for information and training and allow EEOC to educate substantially more employers and employees about how to identify, prevent and eliminate workplace discrimination. During FY 2004, 49 TAPS were conducted throughout the US, with more than 6,300 paid participants. In FY 2005, we anticipate conducting a comparable number of TAPS and project the same number of paid participants for FY 2006.

The Training Institute offers a yearly multi-day conference for federal employees. The Examining Conflicts in Employment Laws (EXCEL) conference has become a widely anticipated and highly acclaimed event that federal EEO managers, attorneys, EEO professionals and EEO staff rely on to receive guidance and information on timely EEO topics, recent developments in employment laws and changes in agency procedures. In previous years, attendance has averaged around 300 participants. The recognition of the quality of the EXCEL conference is evident by a dramatic increase in enrollment for the FY 2004 conference over the last three years' average attendance levels. About 800 participants attended the FY 2004 conference. Additionally, we project comparably high enrollment levels in fiscal years 2005 and 2006.

The Customer Specific Training program is another important vehicle for training employees, managers, supervisors and human resource professionals from both large and small to mid-size employers about their EEO responsibilities and how to prevent and correct workplace discrimination. All of the standardized courses are available for on-site training and we design customized courses that we deliver at the employer's worksite. During fiscal year 2004, more than 170 customer specific training courses were conducted by EEOC staff, providing direct training to more than 1,000 employees. We anticipate comparable numbers for fiscal years 2005 and 2006.

The Training Institute currently offers six national courses geared toward federal employees. The course topics include EEO Training for New Counselors, EEO Training for New Investigators, EEO Training for Managers and Supervisors, Writing Final Agency Actions, EEO Refresher Training for Counselors, and Drafting Letters of Acceptance and Dismissals Decisions. During fiscal year 2004, 30 national courses were conducted for over 750 attendees. These courses were offered in Washington, DC and in other major federal regions throughout the country. We anticipate maintaining the current schedule size for fiscal year 2005 and expect a slight increase in fiscal year 2006.

The Training Institute also develops direct sale training products to foster the agency's overall training and technical assistance statutory responsibilities. Among the products we currently offer are a Workplace Harassment Issues Toolkit, a Workplace Harassment Issues Essential Guide, an EEO Training for New Counselor participant manual, an EEO Training for New Investigators participant manual, a TAPS CD and our newest addition to the Essential Guide series, the "ABC's of EEO for Small Businesses and Supervisors." We anticipate expanding our product line during fiscal years 2005 and 2006 to include additional desk references in the Essential Guide series and other training materials that address the changing needs of our customers.

D. Summary of Financing for the Revolving Fund

E. Object Class Schedule – Strategic Objective 2: Inclusive Workplace

*may not add due to rounding

F. Object Class Schedule – EEOC Education, Technical Assistance, and Training Revolving Fund

*may not add due to rounding

V. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3 - ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE

A. Introduction

Organizational Excellence includes the final element of the Chair's Five-Point Plan—EEOC as a Model Workplace. Our efforts seek to improve our organizational capacity and infrastructure to more effectively carry out our mission through sound management of our resources—human, financial and technological. Each of these resources are essential to achieve our enforcement and prevention goals. Balancing all three of our strategic objectives is necessary to accomplish our mission.

At the heart of our efforts to become a model workplace and achieve organizational excellence is our employees. In FY 2004, we began to implement strategies, programs and practices to strategically manage our employees and enable them to perform their jobs better—achieving the results to which we aspire and the public deserves.

In addition, this Strategic Objective reinforces our efforts to manage for results and focus on our customers, both internal and external. The PMA amplifies these tenets and provides the roadmap for the Objective. We are working diligently to meet the PMA requirements for greater organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

EEOC aims to be an organization that sets and implements the highest quality standards for equal opportunity, customer service, internal efficiencies, and fiscal responsibility. Through vision, leadership, and a culture of continuous improvement, we intend to achieve these goals and become a model for others.

This section articulates our plans towards achieving our goals by implementing the PMA and other agency initiatives.

B. Meeting the President's Management Agenda

Our roadmap to achieving our principles and standards under Strategic Objective 3, Organizational Excellence, includes implementing the President's Management Agenda (PMA). The PMA identifies five areas that require improvement throughout the federal government. The five-part agenda is an integrated set of management reforms designed to create a government that is more results-oriented, customer-focused and market-based. Since fiscal year 2003 the agency's Inspector General has rated the agency in all areas. The ultimate goal for EEOC is to achieve a green rating on the scorecard in all categories. EEOC's efforts to achieve green in each PMA area are discussed below.

Strategic Management of Human Capital

The thrust of the human capital initiative is not simply having a number of employees, but having the right number, in the right place, with the right skills, at the right time. Realizing the vision of a fair and inclusive workplace requires an agency workforce that can effectively handle the complexities of enforcement, litigation, mediation, and prevention related to employment discrimination. Attaining that workforce is highlighted in Measures 3.1.2. and 3.1.3. under Organizational Excellence Strategic Objective.

Competitive Sourcing

The Agency has consistently identified commercial and inherently governmental inventories throughout the Commission. In FY 2003, a contract for the back-office and logistics support of the Revolving Fund was successfully competed and awarded. In our five-year competitive sourcing plan, we have included planned competitions for information technology desktop support and applications training, human resource record processing, management and staff training and federal operations case file administration.

Improved Financial Management

During FY 2003 the EEOC had its first official audit of its financial statements and received a qualified opinion. The auditors rendered a qualified opinion on the balance sheet because the estimate for future workers' compensation payment liability was material to the financial statements and was not actuarially based. In addition, there was a material weakness in the financial reporting process and a reportable condition involving the allocation of non-direct costs in the managerial cost accounting process. We took steps in fiscal year 2004 to resolve these findings which resulted in the EEOC receiving an "unqualified opinion" on its financial statements.

Expanded Electronic Government

Over the past several years, EEOC has completed several major information technology E-GOV projects that streamlined internal processes, reduced paperwork burden, integrated data, and allowed the Agency to work more efficiently with existing resources. In FY 2005, EEOC will implement a web-based tool to assist the public in determining if their employment discrimination concerns falls within EEOC's jurisdiction and provide them with the option to securely transmit information to the EEOC electronically.

Budget and Performance Integration

In FY 2004, a cross-organizational group of agency employees designed a cost accounting approach to better integrate budget and performance and to improve financial management through the collection, allocation and reporting of program costs. The cost accounting framework outlines major program elements to which employees allocate their time, allowing the agency to assess the cost of its programs for effective management of resources and operations.

We will continue the implementation of the cost accounting system in FY 2005 through our time and attendance process. The system will enable us to routinely collect and better account for, safeguard, and strategically manage resources to meet agency goals. It will also result in better alignment of agency resources with program goals/results.

C. Highlighted Areas for Strategic Objective 3

For this strategic objective, the agency's resources are allocated between Strategic Objective 1 and Strategic Objective 2 to identify the full cost of conducting our front-line programs, including all of the elements of our operations supporting those programs. In addition to technology, this section highlights two other important undertakings that contribute to the achievement of principles of the Presidential Management Agenda (PMA), Organizational Excellence, and "EEOC as a model workplace" – implementation of the National Contact Center Pilot and Workforce Repositioning. The item in Table 10, Technology, contributes to our two mission-related objectives: Justice and Opportunity and Inclusive Workplace.

Technology

Over the past several years, EEOC has been modernizing and expanding our Information Technology (IT) to better optimize service delivery and improve organizational efficiency. The EEOC requests $14.5 million in technology funds to sustain existing IT operations and services.

National Contact Center

With the establishment of the agency's pilot National Contact Center (NCC) in the second half of FY 2005, we expect to realize, in FY 2006, many of the benefits from the NCC's support. These benefits include: providing a centralized point of contact for the agency using multiple channels (e.g., telephone/Interactive Voice Response, TTY, fax, e-mail, written correspondence, website); standard operational procedures for all public contact; expanded public access with 24/7 operations (with live support 12 hours per day) in 150 languages; logging, tracking, and monitoring of inquiry nature, volume, duration and resolution coupled with extensive reporting on demographics, issues and concerns of customers that can inform policy development and operational improvements. All of these features will be achieved through use of state-of-the-art technology to enhance agency interactions with the public with the ultimate goal of improving customer access to and satisfaction with the EEOC. We will carefully monitor and oversee the vendor's performance during this pilot program to ensure the highest level of performance and efficiency.

Workforce Repositioning

The budget request includes funding for workforce repositioning. Workforce repositioning is a critical component of two elements of the PMA - Strategic Management of Human Capital and Competitive Sourcing. To fulfill the goals of the PMA, the EEOC seeks to: provide fast, responsive, and high quality service; maintain appropriate staffing and competencies; enhance employee professionalism; and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations by streamlining functional responsibilities, broadening the spans of control, reducing layers of management, and redeploying resources to our front-line, mission-related functions.

We have embarked upon an examination of the agency's service delivery infrastructure, including office locations, organizational structure, staffing configurations and delayering of management, both in the field and at headquarters. We aim to align agency resources and staff skills to meet workload demands more efficiently and effectively. Our restructuring plan will be phased in over a five year period, which began in FY 2004. Changes are being made within our existing organizational structure and without impacting our level of service. We continue to scan demographic data, including population growth, civilian job growth, minority population, and immigration patterns to inform our efforts; and to work closely with our field personnel to ensure that local needs are met.

D. Performance Measures for Strategic Objective 3 – Organizational Excellence

Eight of our performance measures in our Strategic Plan are included under this Strategic Objective for Organizational Excellence and the Chair's Five-Point Plan for EEOC as a Model Workplace. The following table lists these measures.

*TBD=To Be Determined
‡ Text of the measure is changed. See Section IX for an explanation.

A model workplace strives to provide outstanding customer service. Measure 3.1.1 intends to use survey techniques to measure our customers' confidence in our services. A survey approach would assess attributes and processes that impact on individuals and employers who use our services, such as staff professionalism, agency operations, and approaches to service delivery. This information would enable us to identify and focus on ways to streamline our processes and continuously improve. This measure also would allow us to evaluate and improve our internal support operations. A key component that is necessary to achieve excellent external customer service is the ability of our supporting offices to provide excellent service to its "customers," our employees.

Critical aspects for achieving our internal and external customer service goals are the ability to address our future human capital needs and to provide a good working environment for our employees. Measure 3.1.2 addresses these areas. OPM has developed guidance to help agencies evaluate their working environment and apply successful strategies to manage and develop its human capital. The two-year target for FY 2004 and FY 2005 is to develop our comprehensive human capital strategy and begin to implement approaches toward achieving this goal.

With our efforts during FY 2004, we are on our way toward meeting the two-year target for this measure. We developed a draft strategic human capital plan and began using it to chart further efforts in line with the our Strategic Plan. We established a cross-organizational working group to help design a cohesive, broad-based workforce planning strategy to extend workload and staffing projections already in use and multiple approaches to implement it. A performance management system was developed and implemented to align efforts and rewards with the agency's strategic direction. Management training and development was updated and implemented. Managers also received general and tailored guidance on labor relations issues. For the two major front-line positions, investigator and trial attorney, standard position descriptions were updated, so that the specification of what these two key groups do is aligned with the EEOC's mission. Materials for assessing Investigator competencies in conjunction with our automated application system were developed. During FY 2005 and into FY 2006, we will build on this foundation for achieving our goal and begin to implement key features necessary to establish a solid foundation of policies, procedures and practices for recruiting, developing, and retaining the workforce of the future for the agency.

To complement our customer service initiative in Measure 3.1.1 and our human capital strategy in Measure 3.1.2, we need to know how our own workplace environment impacts on our employees' ability to provide excellent service. OPM is assisting all Federal agencies to survey employees on areas affecting them in the workplace. Starting in September 2004, OPM began to survey our employees. Once OPM releases the results of the survey, which is expected by the beginning of the second quarter of FY 2005, we will be able to determine which areas need our attention and how to improve employee satisfaction. Our goal for Measure 3.1.3 by the end of FY 2009 is to meet or exceed the government-wide average from OPM surveys. Once survey results are available for EEOC and all other Federal agencies, we will be able to compare respective rates of employee satisfaction in the area of human capital and the steps needed to achieve our long-term goal.

An important component of the PMA is the ability of the Agency to manage its financial resources. Private sector employers and major Federal agencies are required to obtain an audit opinion from an independent audit of their financial records. Recent statutory changes now require EEOC to have an independent audit of its annual financial statements. In FY 2003, an independent auditor conducted our first-ever financial audit of the agency in preparation for implementing Measure 3.1.4. In FY 2004, we corrected two material weaknesses raised in that audit and received the agency's first unqualified opinion from the auditor; demonstrating that we are diligently managing our financial resources. We expect to receive an unqualified audit opinion for each of the remaining years through FY 2009.

As we noted for Measure 2.1.2, Management Directive 715 describes the key attributes of a Model EEO Program for all Federal agencies. With that measure, we expect to have 50% of all Federal agencies successfully implementing the model by the end of FY 2009. EEOC is the Federal agency charged with enforcing the Nation's civil rights laws to protect individuals from employment discrimination. We also strive to be a model workplace under the Chair's Five-Point Plan, which means that our own EEO workplace policies and practices should serve as a prototype for other Federal agencies. Measure 3.1.5 reinforces our commitment to be a model workplace in the area of equal employment opportunity for our own employees. We intend to adopt the Model EEO Program by the end of FY 2006, when we will have successfully implemented all of the attributes described in the model.

Pending the finalization of the methodology that will be used to assess an agency's EEO Program under MD 715, we used the attributes set forth in the self-assessment checklist that was provided with the instructions for the Management Directive. Our preliminary assessment reflects a 79% success rate for the attributes in the checklist, thus exceeding our goal of implementing at least 50% of the attributes of a Model EEO Program during FY 2004. Although the 79% rate exceeds our goal of 75% for FY 2005. We have not revised our targets at this time until our program can be evaluated using the actual assessment tool that will be used to assess all other Federal agencies.

One of the most important components of the Model EEO Program is the proficient resolution of our internal EEO complaints. We have made significant progress in this area. Our average processing time for internal EEO complaints declined by 8% from FY 2002 to FY 2003. However, the result was still an average processing time of 510 days, beyond what would be expected in a model program. Measure 3.1.6 establishes an ambitious target for us to reduce the processing time by at least 40% by the end of FY 2009. Using FY 2003 as a benchmark, our goal was to reduce our average processing time by 10% during FY 2004.

As a first step to meet this goal, we focused on improving complaint management to dramatically reduce the amount of time a complaint is in the investigative phase. In FY 2004, we were able to reduce the average processing time for investigations by 41% (from 275 days to 162 days). The overall result has been a decrease in the average processing time for all types of complaints, which includes dismissals, settlements, and merit decisions with and without an administrative judge's decision. For FY 2004, the average processing time for all internal EEO complaints was reduced by 17.5% (from the 510-day average for the FY 2003 benchmark to 421 days).

We intend to reduce the amount by 20% in FY 2005, compared to the FY 2003 benchmark. We are establishing a target value for FY 2006 of 25% to reduce the average days to process our EEOC complaints, compared to the FY 2003 benchmark. Both of the FY 2005 and FY 2006 targets are ambitious goals because, as we reduce our average time to process a case, it is harder to reduce it further, making subsequent targets harder.

The RESOLVE Program, EEOC's internal ADR program, was launched in FY 2003. The Program is another component of our efforts to become a model workplace. RESOLVE provides a forum for the informal resolution of a variety of workplace disputes involving both EEO and non-EEO concerns. Measure 3.1.7 tracks employees' willingness to participate again in RESOLVE. Our FY 2004 target for this measure is 30%. We far exceeded the target, with 94% of the individuals reporting a willingness to participate in the program again. This unexpected first year result even exceeds our long-term goal of reaching 80% by FY 2009. We recognize that there is a high level of receptivity in the first year. Our challenge, however, is to sustain the high level of performance over the next few years. We have raised our target to 90% for FY 2005 and FY 2006. We will reevaluate our performance measure once we know our results for a longer period of time.

The two-year target for FY 2004 and FY 2005 for Measure 3.1.8 focuses on building the technical infrastructure required to support enterprise-wide document management; such as expanding telecommunication bandwidth, acquiring storage devices and software licenses, and preparing for the phased-in, multi-year implementation of the DMS. During FY 2004, EEOC installed the first phase of the production DMS infrastructure. In addition, we began converting our Federal appellate case files into a structured, electronic format within the DMS. Development of DMS functionality for charge and case file conversion has been delayed due to funding shortages, and is expected to re-initiate in FY 2007.

VI. VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF DATA

Our private sector, Federal sector, and litigation programs require accurate enforcement data, as well as reliable financial and human resources information, to assess EEOC operations and performance results and make good management decisions. To that end, we continue to enhance our information quality guidelines and verification and validation processes. This includes designing and implementing electronic information systems to ensure accurate and verifiable data.

For example, we deployed a secure, web-based application that enabled approximately 45,000 businesses to electronically submit their annual Employer Information Report (EEO-1) to EEOC. This new system reduces the need for manual data entry of report data and includes automated edits to validate data, calculate totals and compares statistics against the prior year submission. We also implemented a secure, web-based system that enabled all Federal agencies to electronically submit annual equal employment opportunity statistics (Form 462). This system has improved the quality and timeliness of the information received. In addition, the new Integrated Mission System, which consolidated our mission data on charge intake, investigation, mediation, litigation, and outreach functions into a single shared information system, includes many automated edit checks and rules to enhance data integrity. Since several of our new performance measures require us to use data to assess our achievements, it is significant that we can now receive data substantially more quickly with greater data accuracy.

Our information quality guidelines have been in effect for several years. In addition, we have implemented internal procedures to strengthen our ability to verify and validate the quality of our data before it is released to the public.

VII. PROGRAM EVALUATION

In our new Strategic Plan, we established a schedule for conducting program evaluations. Program evaluations are designed to be a thorough examination of a program area by ensuring an independent review, using a rigorous methodology, and applying appropriate statistical and analytical tools. It uses expertise within and outside the program under review to enhance the analytical perspectives and add credence to the evaluation and recommendations. Program evaluations with this degree of rigor and independence are important because they enable an agency to determine whether or not its programs are operating as they are intended to, are operating effectively and efficiently, and are achieving results.

During FY 2004, we intended to establish procedures to conduct the five evaluations scheduled in our Strategic Plan. Several performance measures already discussed in this report rely on Program Evaluations to assess the results of the programs and identify ways to improve them.

We initiated activities during FY 2004 that enabled us to prepare for and start to conduct an FY 2005 Program Evaluation, which will allow us to remain on our schedule for conducting evaluations. We have made an adjustment to the schedule and will be conducting the Program Evaluation on the Private Sector Charge Process during FY 2005, instead of the evaluation of the private sector mediation program. The table on page 81 describes our revised program evaluation schedule.

VIII. GENERAL STATEMENT OF LAWS

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 253, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) as amended, (Title VII) and became operational on July 2, 1965. The Commission has five members, no more than three of whom shall be of the same political party. The members are appointed by the President, by and with the consent of the Senate for rotating five-year terms. The President designates one member to serve as Chairman and one member to serve as Vice Chairman. The General Counsel is appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate for a term of four years.

The Commission is charged with promoting equal opportunity in employment by enforcing the federal civil rights employment laws through administrative and judicial actions, education, and technical assistance. We fulfill our mission through the implementation of a vigorous law enforcement program, complemented by proactive prevention through an outreach program that provides information, guidance, and technical assistance to help prevent discrimination from occurring.

Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin by public and private employers with 15 or more employees, employment agencies, and labor organizations with 15 or more members. Members of the public file charges alleging employment discrimination with the Commission's 51 field offices. EEOC staff members investigate the charges and issue determinations of "reasonable cause" or "no reasonable cause" to believe the allegations of a charge. If the Commission finds cause, it attempts to resolve the charge through conciliation. EEOC also attempts to settle charges through mediation.

Title VII authorizes the Commission to file suit in Federal District Court in order to achieve compliance if it is unable to achieve a remedy through conciliation. If the case involves a state or local government, the Commission will refer it to the Attorney General who may file suit in federal court.

Pursuant to Section 709(c) of Title VII, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires public and private employers and labor organizations to file periodic reports providing data on the makeup of their workforces or membership by gender and racial/ethnic categories. The data are used by other federal, state, and local agencies charged with enforcement of equal employment opportunity laws, and in aggregate form by non-government organizations and researchers concerned with equal employment opportunity.

EEOC also enforces the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967, and the Equal Pay Act (EPA). The ADEA protects workers age 40 and older from discrimination in hiring, discharge, pay, promotions, fringe benefits, and other aspects of employment by employers having 20 or more employees. The Equal Pay Act prohibits gender-based discrimination in the payment of wages to men and women performing substantially equal work in the same establishment. The Commission receives and investigates charges of discrimination in these areas and makes findings of "violation" or "no violation" and may file suit in Federal District Court if it is unable to achieve voluntary resolution of violations through conciliation.

On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law. The ADA became effective on July 26, 1992, for employers with 25 or more employees and on July 26, 1994, for employers with 15 or more employees. This legislation provides a clear and comprehensive mandate for enforcing the laws prohibiting discrimination in employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. EEOC is responsible for ensuring compliance with Title I of this statute by receiving and investigating charges of disability discrimination. At the conclusion of EEOC's investigation, the agency issues a determination of reasonable cause or dismisses the charge (no cause). If EEOC has found cause and is unable to achieve compliance through conciliation, EEOC may file a lawsuit. If the case involves a state or local government, the Commission will refer it to the Attorney General who may file suit in federal court.

Under the statutes EEOC enforces, the agency, through individual Commissioners or by field directors, may initiate charges based on information suggesting that the law has been violated. If the Commission decides after investigating that reasonable cause exists to believe that a violation has occurred, remedial relief is sought through the process of conciliation or litigation if conciliation efforts fail.

Section 717 of Title VII, Section 15 of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, bar discrimination by federal agencies on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, and disability. These sections provide the basis for Commission oversight responsibility for the procedures used by federal departments and agencies in processing internal complaints of discrimination. In addition, the Commission has appellate jurisdiction to review final decisions of departments or agencies on discrimination complaints upon the request of the complainant. It is also responsible for ensuring that federal departments and agencies maintain programs of equal employment opportunity.

Further, under Executive Order 12067, the Commission provides leadership and coordination to all federal department and agencies' programs enforcing federal statutes, executive orders, regulations, and policies which require equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. Coordination is provided to eliminate conflict, competition, duplication, and inconsistency in these programs and to improve their effectiveness. All federal departments and agencies are required to cooperate with and assist the Commission in performing these functions and are required to furnish the Commission with such reports and information as it may require.

IX. ADDENDUM: INTERIM ADJUSTMENTS TO STRATEGIC PLAN

The agency is making limited changes to the text of six performance measures to ensure that their meaning is clearly understood and it is altering its schedule of Performance Evaluations. These changes in the measures and schedules are interim adjustments to the Agency's Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2004-2009. For the convenience of the reader, we have highlighted in bold several words in each measure to make it easier to identify the key changes made. The change in the schedule of evaluations is described in item E. This schedule change requires the agency to use an alternative method to evaluate the affected measure (see item F).

A) Inclusion of the 180th Day

We are measuring a consistent time frame for the first three measures in our Strategic Plan. We are changing the phrasing of the text to ensure that it is clear that we are including the 180th day of the period in the count. The change is not substantive.

B) Increased Agreement of Employers to Mediate

The private sector mediation program has been very successful; however, our charge data and a research study verified that employers do not agree to participate in the program to the same extent charging parties do. This measure was developed to increase the number of charges in which employers agree to participate. The original language may incorrectly imply that we would count unique employers in order to increase those agreeing to participate. It is more appropriate, however, to try to increase the actual number of charges that are mediated, which require the employer to agree to mediate the charge. The text change is not substantive, but it correctly states how the agency will determine the results for this measure.

C) Federal Sector Evaluations

The agency regularly uses the term "federal sector program" when it describes EEOC's activities, policies, processes and procedures involving federal agencies. One of EEOC's activities is to evaluate the EEO programs of other federal agencies. The use of the word "program" in this measure was intended to only indicate that the evaluation would be conducted by our own federal sector program. It could be misunderstood, however, to require the type of rigor and independence expected from the Program Evaluations described in Section VII. The text of the measure has been changed to avoid any misunderstanding. It is not a substantive change to the measure.

D) Electronic Conversion of Files

The electronic document management project will electronically convert key documents in a file, but it was not the intention of the agency to count individual documents in order to assess the results for this measure. The original text of the measure could be misunderstood. It has been revised to convey the proper interpretation that the agency will count the number of case files once the electronic conversion of documents occurs. In addition, the original text did not explicitly include our federal sector files in the document conversion program. The text was changed to clearly reflect that we are also converting key documents in the federal files. The text changes are not substantive.

In addition, funding shortages in FY 2005 and FY 2006 will require that we adjust our performance measure for FY 2009. New timeframes for completion, along with the interim measures, will be determined in FY 2005.

E) Change in Program Evaluations' Schedule

The Agency decided to change the order of the Program Evaluations outlined in the agency's Strategic Plan and conduct the Program Evaluation for the Private Sector Charge Process in FY 2005, rather than the Private Sector Mediation Program. The change in the table describing the revised schedule is not substantive.

F) Alternate Assessment of Private Sector Mediation/ADR Program

The Strategic Plan indicates for Measure 1.2.1. that the agency would conduct a Program Evaluation in FY 2005 to assess the private sector mediation/ADR program. With the changed program evaluation schedule (item E above), the agency will assess the program using an alternative method. It intends to develop a methodology to assess the program by using data collected from its investigative charge files and coded into the agency-wide charge database.

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Footnotes

1.FY 2006 Performance Budget Request shows State and Local as a subset of the Private Sector Enforcement Program

2.Beginning in FY 2005, we intend to allocate more resources to support prevention activities.

3.Includes fiscal year 2004 rescission of $3,455,610 (PL-108-199).

4.Includes fiscal year 2005 rescission of $4,424,147 (PL-108-447).

5.Highlighted resources listed in Strategic Objective 3 are allocated between Strategic Objectives 1 & 2 and included in the Agency Total

6.Includes reimbursable Full Time Equivalents from the Revolving Fund.

7.Beginning in FY 2005 Security payments related to rent will be paid to the Department of Homeland Security.

8.Includes fiscal year 2004 rescission of $3,455,610 (PL-108-199).

9.Includes fiscal year 2005 rescission of $4,424,147 (PL-108-447).

10.Includes reimbursable Full Time Equivalents from the Revolving Fund.

11.Beginning in FY 2005, we intend to allocate more resources to support prevention activities.

12.Included $3,110,049 of the $3,455,610 fiscal year 2004 rescission (PL-108-199).

13.Includes $3,763,055 of the $4,424,147 fiscal year 2005 rescission (PL-108-447).

14.Totals for all charges do not equal the sum of all statutes because many charge filings allege issues/bases under more than one statute.

15."Hearing Requests Consolidated After Initial Processing" are cases initially processed by EEOC as individual hearings but subsequently consolidated with other hearings.

16.Beginning in FY 2005 security payments related to rent will be paid to the Department of Homeland Security.

17.Includes fiscal year 2004 rescission $3,110,049 of the $3,455,610 rescission (PL-108-199).

18.Includes fiscal year 2005 rescission of $3,760,525 of the $4,424,147 rescission (PL-108-447).

19.Beginning in FY 2005, we intend to allocate more resources to support prevention activities.

20."Small Business Economic Indicators for 2003" August 2004, Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, page 6.

21.Beginning in FY 2005 security payments related to rent will be paid to the Department of Homeland Security.

22.Includes fiscal year 2004 rescission $345,561 of the $3,456,000 rescission (PL-108-199).

23.Includes fiscal year 2005 rescission $663,622 of the $4,424,147 (PL-108-447).

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This page was last modified on February 14, 2005