Council Meeting

Held Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Host: Ms. Bonita White

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Ms. Delia L. Johnson, Co-Chair and Director, Office of Civil Rights for International Broadcasting Bureau, opened the meeting with a few remarks and then asked the attendees to give their names, agencies, and positions. She thanked Bonita White, Director, EEO Programs, DHHS, for sponsoring this meeting. 

 

She announced that the Council’s Executive Board and the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on MD-715 members would be meeting with the staff of the EEOC’s Office of Federal Operation on November 7, 2006.  In addition, she indicated that the next EEO Directors meeting would be held at EEOC on November 8, 2006, to discuss how to improve the federal complaints process.  She also announced that the Council’s holiday party would be held in the Odyssey Cruise in December.  

 

Ms. Johnson then said that she would serve as the moderator of a panel of experts that would be discussing  report no. GAO-06-832, released on September 20, 2006, and entitled “Additional Insights Could Enhance Agency Efforts Related to Hispanic Representation.”  The panelist were Christopher Mihm, Managing Director of Strategic Issues at the Government Accountability Office; Jimmie V. Reyna, Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) National President; Peter Zamora, Acting Regional Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF); Jackson Chin, Associate Counsel, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF); Sean Clayton, Chair, National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers (NCHEPM); and Jorge Ponce, Co-Chair, Council of Federal EEO and Civil Rights Executives.

 

CHRISTOPHER MIHM

 

Mr. Mihm indicated that the trigger for the GAO report was the fact that while Hispanics made up 12.6 percent of the Civilian Labor Force (CLF), in 2005, they only represented 7.4 percent of the federal workforce.  Consequently, the objectives of the report were to identify the measurable factors that affected the representation of Hispanics in the federal workforce; to determine the steps that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had taken related to Hispanic representation; and to illustrate the efforts of five federal agencies related to Hispanic representation.

 

In addressing objective no. 1, the GAO staff developed a multivariate logistic regression model that was reviewed by experts identified by the National Academy of Sciences and by officials from EEOC, OPM, the Department of Justice, and the Census Bureau.  The experts also reviewed the preliminary analyses. GAO used a dataset that was based on a large enough sample to reliably compare, on a national level, the federal workforce and the nonfederal workforce.

 

The statistical model showed that U.S. citizenship and educational attainment had the greatest effect of the 11 measurable factors on the Hispanic representation in the federal workforce.  After accounting for citizenship, Hispanics were nearly as likely as non-Hispanics to be employed in the federal workforce.  In 2005, 99.7 percent of executive branch employees were U.S. citizens, and a greater proportion of federal occupations required higher levels of education than in the CLF.  When the GAO staff compared citizens with similar levels of education, Hispanics were 16 percent more likely than non-Hispanics to be employed in the federal workforce than in the nonfederal workforce. In addition, when all 11 factors were considered, the statistical model further showed that Hispanic citizens were 24 percent more likely than non-Hispanic citizens to be employed in the federal workforce than in the nonfederal workforce.

 

The GAO staff found out that Hispanics enrolled in 2-year colleges at a higher rate than other racial/ethnic groups. In fact, 59 percent of Hispanics enrolled in postsecondary institutions are attending community colleges.  Thus, Mr. Mihm pointed out that if federal agencies only target their recruitment efforts for Hispanics at 4-year colleges, they would not reach a large number of potential Hispanic applicants.

 

 To look at objective no. 2, the GAO staff explained that the CLF benchmarks that EEOC and OPM used to compare representation did not differentiate between citizens and noncitizens, and, consequently, did not identify how citizenship affected the pool of persons qualified to work for the government.  Mr. Mihm stated that GAO recommended that EEOC and OPM include citizenship in their annual comparisons of representation in the federal workforce in the future.

 

Mr. Mihm also indicated that OPM did not collect race and national origin data for the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP), the Federal Career Intern Program (FCIP), and the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program.  Mr. Mihm stated that OPM should collect data on the conversion rates to permanent positions from these programs to help agencies in their use of these programs.

 

To address objective no. 3, Mr. Mihm stated that the GAO staff looked at the efforts of the U.S. Air Force, the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Small Business Administration, and the Social Security Administration.  GAO selected agencies of various sizes, kinds of occupations, and location.

 

Mr. Mihm also referred attendees to GAO 05-90, entitled “Diversity Management, Expert-Identified Leading Practices and Agency Examples,” which was issued in January 2005.  This report emphasized the importance of having the top leadership commitment for the success and implementation of diversity initiatives, accountability, as well as the value of career development programs and educational assistance programs.      

 

SEAN CLAYTON

 

Mr. Clayton explained the history of the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers, which could also be viewed at  http://www.nationalcouncilhepm.com/index.asp?page=home.

 

Mr. Clayton then listed several concerns that some of his members had brought to his attention.  Among these were the following: 1) The GAO staff did not address the original congressional intent when preparing the report; 2) he would like for the GAO staff to better explain how age did not play a role in the underrepresentation of Hispanics, considering that the average age for Hispanics was 26 and the average age of a Federal hire with no previous federal experience was 36.5 --  not to mention that the average grade in the Federal Government was the GS-8.2 rather the GS-5 or GS-7 which was common for entry level positions; 3) if 58 percent of federal employees did not have a college degree, why was the educational attainment of Hispanics highlighted in the GAO report as a barrier to employment; 4) if 57 percent of the federal workforce was at the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs, why did the GAO staff not interview anyone from these Departments to assess their successes and challenges in Hispanic employment?; 5) the National Council recommends that a study be conducted to assess the number of federal jobs advertised and then selected from non-status announcements.  To increase the representation of Hispanics in the federal sector, it is necessary that federal jobs not only be advertised to non-status applicants, but that selections be made from open competition -- as opposed to just from merit promotion.  If jobs are advertised and selections are made primarily from lists of status applicants, then Hispanic representation will not increase because Hispanic are already underrepresented in the federal sector.  One way to increase the Hispanic representation is to ensure to what extent open competition is being used as an advertising and hiring tool.  Without such a study, the overall representation of Hispanics government-wide will not change significantly. 

 

In other words, to increase significantly the representation of Hispanic federal employees, managers have to expand their selection decisions to non-status applicants – considering that the federal workforce is already underrepresented with respect to Hispanic status applicants.    

 

PETER ZAMORA

 

Mr. Zamora explained that MALDEF looks at the Hispanic representation issue at specific federal agencies, instead of government-wide like the GAO report did. 

 

He stated that by identifying two barriers to the hiring of Hispanics in the Federal Government, the GAO report could provide an excuse to managers and supervisors who were unwilling to hire Hispanics.  He further stated that this would be inappropriate because Executive Order 13171 required federal agencies to overcome barriers such as those identified in the GAO report. 

 

 Mr. Zamora explained that there were many Hispanics who didn’t know how to get a job with the Federal Government.  Therefore, federal agencies needed to spend more time educating Hispanics on the necessary steps they had to follow to get a job in the federal sector.  He also related that it was critical that Latinos be included in the informal hiring networks that often led to federal employment. 

 

 He indicated that it was not enough for federal agencies to post their vacancies in the USAJOBS database and expect Hispanics to find them.  Instead, federal agencies needed to analyze their data to find out how successful they had been in recruiting Hispanic applicants.  If they had not been very successful, then they needed to use other recruitment strategies -- like getting the assistance of prominent Hispanic organizations like MALDEF and LULAC

 

JIMMIE V. REYNA

 

Mr. Reyna pointed out that the GAO report did not include all the barriers that had caused the underrepresentation of Hispanics in the Federal Government.  For example, he indicated that the Hispanic National Bar Association had over 30,000 legal professionals throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.  Nevertheless, when he did business with the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, which is responsible for ensuring fair trade and compliance with trade laws and agreements, there were no Hispanic attorneys when he looked around the room.

 

He is also very concerned that the GAO staff overlooked the intent of the Congressional requestors.  Thus, he indicated that the Hispanic community needed to concentrate on what actions it was willing to take to counteract the negative impact that the GAO report will have on Hispanic applicants.   

 

Mr. Reyna does not believe that there is a lack of qualified Hispanics to fill the federal vacancies.  Instead, he thinks that federal agencies advertise their vacancies so narrowly that the only way anyone would qualify for them is by having worked at these agencies.

 

Mr. Reyna pointed out that the GAO report referred to Hispanic representation in its title, while most Hispanics were interested mainly in the causes of the Hispanic underrepresentation in the federal sector.

 

 

JORGE PONCE

 

As Council Co-Chair, Mr. Ponce thanked all the panelists who had attended the meeting.

 

He then proceeded to give his presentation that was divided into three parts: 1) issues with the GAO report; 2) reasons for the Hispanic underrepresentation; and, 3) recommendations.

 

Mr. Ponce indicated that he had the following issues with the GAO Report:

 

-- whether, intentionally or unintentionally, it will be used by managers and supervisors as a justification not to hire or promote Hispanics.

 

-- all EEO groups have members who are not U.S. citizens.  Why pick on Hispanics?

 

-- not all jobs in the federal sector have educational requirements.  According to the 2005 OPM Fact Book, 73.1 percent of federal jobs do not have educational requirements.

 

-- Hispanics are underrepresented in grades 14, 15, and SES, according to the EEOC’s Annual Report on the Federal Work Force for FY05.  These Hispanics are already in the federal work force; consequently, citizenship and educational attainment are not contributing factors. 

 

-- according to the GAO Report, 44 percent of Asians have bachelor’s and graduate degrees, while Whites have 29 percent.  Nevertheless, according to the EEOC’s Annual Report on the Federal Workforce for FY 2005, Whites occupied 86 percent of the SES positions, while Asians occupied 3 percent.  Thus, there is an inverse relationship between the educational attainment of Asians and their representation in the SES ranks.

 

-- correlation is not the same as causation.  While the GAO staff took three year to complete this report, they were only able to find two variables (U.S. citizenship an educational attainment) that had the greatest impact on the representation of Hispanics in the federal sector.  Nevertheless, the report did not show the existence or absence of discrimination against Hispanics – which is precisely what the majority of Hispanics wanted to find out.   

 

Next, Mr. Ponce discussed his own personal views on the causes of the Hispanic underrepresentation.

 

-- lack of support (moral, financial, FTE’s, etc.) from senior managers;

 
-- lack of accountability for managers and supervisors – even after the President’s Management Scorecard required federal agencies to reduce  underrepresentation and establish processes to 
sustain workforce diversity;
 
-- manipulation of statistical data to show progress when there had not been any.  For example, by combining the number of political appointees with career SESers, instead of just showing 
the career SESers, some agencies claim that they have made progress in recruiting Hispanics in the SES ranks; and, 
 
-- lack of willingness to deal with the challenge.  Instead of coming up with solutions, federal agencies resort to two action items when addressing the Hispanic underrepresentation:
 a) hiring summer interns, without converting the majority to SCEP appointments; and, b) creating task forces, blue-ribbon commissions, or tiger teams to prepare reports that gathered dust
 in book shelves.   At the end of the day, Hispanics remain underrepresented. 
 
Mr. Ponce then closed his presentation by providing a list of recommendations. 
 
-- hold congressional hearings;
 
-- use the bilingual/bicultural appointing authority more frequently; 
 
-- include a language requirement in vacancy announcements in areas with large Hispanic populations; 
 
-- get OPM and the MSPB to expedite the reconsideration petition of the Dean and Olson decisions, so that federal agencies can use the outstanding scholar program again; 
 
-- set up a pilot project to increase the number of Hispanics represented in career SES slots.  According to the latest report from the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), the
 number of Hispanic career SESers has declined from 2.5 percent in FY2001 to 2.3 percent in FY2005.  It is in the SES ranks where decisions are made and budgets are approved. 
 
-- Ask EEOC to designate a Commissioner, rather than a collateral-basis employee, to address the Hispanic underrepresentation challenge – just like EEOC Commissioner Griffin is 
spearheading the LEAD initiative to look at the causes for the underrepresentation problem in employees with targeted disabilities.  
 
He agrees with the GAO report that OPM should collect race and national origin (RNO) data on the SCEP, FCIP, and the PMF, government-wide and by agency, as well as the conversion rates
 to permanent career positions. How can you track progress or the lack of it when you are not even tracking the necessary RNO data? 
 
JACKSON CHIN 
 
Mr. Chin, who participated in the panel discussion via teleconference from his New York office, indicated that the GAO report ignored the issue of accountability for the Hispanic 
underrepresentation challenge.  Mr. Chin referred to the requirements of Executive Order 13171 to establish and maintain a program for the recruitment and career development 
of Hispanics in Federal employment.  He also found it peculiar that OPM had not submitted any comments to the GAO report, while noting that the NHLA had issued a report in
 2006 that gave OPM an “F” grade for its efforts to improve the Hispanic representation in the federal workforce.  He also wished that the GAO staff had looked into why Hispanics
 were not promoted into the higher grade levels – which had nothing to do with the U.S. citizenship requirement.
 

MR MIHM DURING THE QUESTION/ANSWER SESSION

 

Mr. Mihm noted that what everyone seemed to agree upon was that agencies needed to make sure they were – to use the analogy from Mr. Reina -- fishing in the right pond.

 

In response to the question regarding whether GAO had followed the intent of the four Congressmen who requested this report (Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA, 30th); Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL, 7th); Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA, 38th); and, Charles Gonzalez (D-TX, 20th)), Mr. Mihm assured the attendees that the GAO staff had followed GAO’s congressional protocols, which could be found on the GAO’s website at http://www.gao.gov  under the Especially for Congress pick list.  In a nutshell, when the GAO received a congressional request, the GAO staff met with staff of the requester and sometimes with a Member of Congress (as was the case on this request) to gain an understanding of the requester’s needs and come to agreement on the reporting objectives. There is some give and take in this process that takes into account timeframes, availability of resources, and what is appropriate and possible for GAO to do.  Once there is agreement on what work is to be done, GAO sends a letter to the requester confirming the objectives and describing the methodology to be used.  

 

In response to the question on the procedures followed to choose the two factors that caused the underrepresentation of Hispanics in the federal workforce, Mr. Mihm explained that GAO did not simply choose these factors.  He explained how the factors were identified.  GAO staff did an extensive literature search, met with Hispanic-serving organizations and with EEOC, OPM, Department of Justice, and Census, and consulted with experts that led to the identification of the 11 factors that were measurable.  The analyses of the Census data using the multivariate logistic regression model identified citizenship and education as having the largest effect of the 11 factors on Hispanic representation.

 

Regarding the concern that federal managers and supervisors would use the GAO report as an excuse to stop hiring Hispanics, Mr. Mihm stated that this would be a willful misreading of the report in all material respects — the reason GAO was asked to do the work as well as the reporting objectives, findings, conclusions, and recommendations.  In fact, he said that the title of the report “Additional Insights Could Enhance Agency Efforts Related to Hispanic Representation” cannot be read as no more needs to be done. Mr. Mihm encouraged the audience to read the GAO report.

 

Regarding whether GAO has contacted OPM about the need to work with EEOC, Mr. Mihm pointed to GAO Report 06-214, which was issued in June 2006, and is entitled “Equal Employment Opportunity: Improved Coordination Needed Between EEOC and OPM in Leading Federal Workplace EEO.” 

 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

 

Sylvia J. Trujillo, Bryn Mawr College, B.A. '91; Harvard University, M.P.P. '93; University of California (Boalt Hall), J.D. '96,  and a legal counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services, stated that not only was the GAO's failure to craft an analytically rigorous analysis of the factors contributing to Hispanic underrepresentation intellectually dishonest, it was criminal given the resulting adverse impact on the efforts to address the deepening crisis of Hispanic underrepresentation.  She identified numerous infirmities with the GAO report including (1) the conclusion that citizenship and educational attainment were such notable barriers to Federal employment, when GAO failed to analyze the Hispanic separation rate from Federal service which has consistently been higher relative to other groups -- even though the data was readily available to conduct such an assessment and by definition these Hispanics are citizens and have the requisite educational attainment; (2) the premise that educational attainment is an actual barrier when other minority groups with comparable educational attainment rates are overrepresented in GS 1- 12; (3) the premise that educational attainment and citizenship are actual barriers, when NASA actually hires 'rocket scientists' and has a higher percentage of Hispanics on board than the consistent poorest performers – the  U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; (4) the failure to provide detailed information on the actual multivariate logistic regressions that were run and the resulting residual left that would be a strong indicator of discrimination - since no other "objective' factor would account for the residual; (5) the failure to respond to the original request and clarifying questions submitted by the requestors; and (6) the premise that out of 40 million Hispanics, the Federal Government could not find about 120,000 to 150,000 Hispanic citizens with the requisite educational attainment for GS 1-15.  She concluded her remarks by challenging the GAO staff to fix the problem that they had created.  Mr. Mihm responded that he understood the passion behind her statement but disagreed with her on every point.  He added that 35 percent of Hispanics in the CLF who were 18 and older were not citizens and that most federal jobs required U.S. citizenship; ergo, it was appropriate for the GAO to measure this factor.

 

An attendee asked Mr. Mihm to consider sending a letter to federal agencies about what the GAO report was not saying.  Mr. Mihm promised to take this recommendation under advisement.

 

An attendee from the Department of Veterans Affairs indicated that at one point during his tenure with the Social Security Administration, Hispanics were underrepresented.  When they conducted all kinds of barrier analyses and statistical studies, the numbers did not improve.  It was only after SSA managers stopped making excuses and engaged in proactive initiatives that the Hispanic representation improved significantly.

 

Roland Roebuck, Multicultural Affairs Coordinator, with the Department of Human Services and a Civil Rights Advocate, recently published a stern reaction to the GAO report in the Federal Times, which is posted in the What’s New directory of the Council’s webpage. Roebuck stated: “Hispanics need to file more class action complaints and go after those managers and supervisors who will use the GAO report as an excuse to avoid hiring qualified Hispanics. If Hispanics have remained underrepresented in the Federal Government during the last forty years, the GAO report will serve as the catalyst for Hispanics to remain underrepresented for the next forty.”

 

Milton Belardo, the Point of Contact of the Interagency Working Group on MD-715, indicated that the GAO report illustrated the futility of conducting barrier analyses – as called for by the EEOC’s MD-715.  It had taken GAO three years to conduct a barrier analysis that reached faulty conclusions.  He stated that many of the problems associated with the underrepresentation of Hispanics were caused because EEOC and OPM were toothless tigers that were incapable and unwilling to hold agencies accountable for not addressing their underrerpesentation challenges.  He indicated that the GAO staff needed to look at the recruitment and retention of Hispanics in the federal sector, since for every Hispanic hired, there were two who left.  He also agreed that federal managers should concentrate on increasing the number of Hispanics at the SES ranks – considering that this was the level where support for Hispanic initiatives would trickle down to other decision makers.  

 

A Council member from the Treasury Department noted that while several EEOC representatives were at the meeting, there was no one representing OPM.  She agreed that while the GAO report was about conducting a barrier analysis, it had become the barrier to enhance agency efforts related to Hispanic representation.