SPONSOR - The meeting was sponsored by Delia Johnson, Vice-Chair of the Council.

EEOC/1614: Jorge Ponce, Vice-Chair of the Council, gave an overview of the major changes in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Proposed Final Rule Revising the Federal Sector Discrimination Complaint Processing Regulations. Following is a list of the major changes:

• Agencies are to establish or make available an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) program for the EEO pre-complaint as well as the formal-complaint process. The Council members had no objection with this change, although they recognized that EEOC needs to provide more guidance on setting ADR programs at the formal-complaint process. .

• Administrative Judges will render final decision on complaints that have been referred to them for hearing. Currently, administrative judges issue recommending decisions, and agencies issue final decisions. Council members recognized this proposal as the most important change of the Proposed Final Rule Revision, and objected strongly to it. Council members maintain that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 only grants appellate status to EEOC, and thus the proposal would run afoul of the statute. Moreover, EEOC also wanted to correct a perception by users of the process that it unfair to allow the same agency which investigated the complaint to render a final decision on the same complaint. However, Council members indicated that EEOC had not provided the data for the appeal process which would show that the Office of Federal Operations upheld the majority of administrative judges’ findings of discriminations which had been overturned by agencies. Considering that EEOC urged agencies in the Proposed Final Rule Revision to rely on mediation and on neutral third parties to settle disputes, the Council members suggested that EEOC lead by example and let two neutral third parties--the General Accounting Office and the Justice Department--collect the appellate data and render a legal decision on this contentious issue.

• EEOC would let administrative judges to send the hearing record, rather than the entire record to parties with the final decision. The Council members objected to this provision and argued that agencies need the entire record to prepare themselves for when appeals are filed.

• EEOC would remove the requirement that administrative judges send final decisions and the records to the parties by certified mail. The Council members objected to this provisions and indicated that proof of receipt of final decisions triggered other steps in the administrative process. Thus, the Council members felt that this provision was irresponsible.

• EEOC would allow parties to seek reconsideration where there is a clear mistake of fact or law or where the decision will have a far ranging impact on the agency. The Council members welcomed this proposal.

• EEOC would authorize that an award of attorney’s fees may include compensation for the time spent during the pre-complaint process. The Council members objected to this proposal because they believed that it would have a chilling effect on early resolution of disputes because of the inherent self-interest caused by the potential attorney’s fees award.

For your convenience, we have attached the position papers that the Council submitted on January 29, 1999, to EEOC on the proposed regulations.

The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans has incorporated in its webpage a directory of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Whereas in the past the White House Initiative had only listed the names of the HSIs, the new directory includes useful information like the telephone numbers, addresses, and degrees offered by these institutions. You can find the directory in the Internet at: www.ed.gov/offices/OIIA/Hispanic/hsi.html. (Make sure that you capitalize the indicated letters in the webpage address).

The March Council Meeting will be sponsored by the Department of the Army. The location has not been determined yet.

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