Council Meeting
Held
Host:
Ms. Delia Johnson
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.
EEOC Hearings Process
EEOC Supervisory Administrative
Judge (SAJ) Patrick Kokenge, from the Miami District Office, briefed the
Council on the Supervisory Administrative Judges’ Work Group (SAJWG) that was
tasked by the Chair, Naomi Earp, with developing a proposal to improve the
federal sector hearings process. SAJs
Christine Siegel, from the Los Angeles District, and Regina Stephens, from the
The SAJWG reviewed previous
proposals prepared by various EEOC groups, the report issued by EEOC
Commissioner Ishimaru, as well as contacting the NAACP and Joe Kaplan from the
law firm of Passman and Kaplan, to name a few.
The Workgroup also looked at other agencies that employed Administrative
Judges, like the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (DHS), Social
Security Administration and MSPB.
Jorge Ponce, Council Co-Chair,
asked why the SAJWG had not consulted with the Council before getting to the
recommendation stage. In addition, he
indicated that EEOC should not ask agencies to purchase new hardware from one
day to the other. Instead, he suggested
that EEOC consider that agencies need about a 3-year window to add new items to
their budgets.
The SAJWG found that not all
offices processed EEO complaints in the same manner and that there were
workload imbalances in the system.
Additionally, the absence of a system permitting Administrative Judges,
AJs, to routinely and effectively communicate on many levels is a contributing factor impeding the efficiency,
consistency and quality of the AJs work.
SAJ Kokenge clarified that AJs do not report to the Office of Federal
Operations, OFO.
The recommendations from the SAJWG
can be summed up in two camps: 1) changing the current organizational structure
and case processing assumptions, and 2) incorporating more
technology into the processing of EEO complaints. These recommendations are all under review
and have not been implemented yet; however, much of the technological changes
proposed is either being piloted or the programming is close to
completion.
Changing the Current Organizational Structure and Case
Processing Assumptions
Among the recommendations made
were: 1) set up five regions that would be concerned only with the work of the
AJs, which would allow for increased quality control, efficiency and
consistency; 2) establish a 3-level litigation track system for conducting
hearings -- level 1 would encompass the less complex cases that do not require
formal discovery and a short, less than a day, hearing can be conducted; level
2 would be reserved the more typical cases heard by AJs in which some discovery
is needed, motions are filed and a day or two hearing is anticipated; and level
3 would be for the most complex cases such as class complaints, cases with
multiple issues, and those that require top secret clearances to hear; and, 3)
provide a certification process for AJs (recognition made that not all AJs have
the same level of expertise, as some AJs have over fifteen years of experience,
while others can be just out of law school when hired).
Using Technology
Under this category, the
recommendations are: 1) implement the electronic processing of cases, including
requests for hearing; 2) increase the
use of VTC (video tele-conference) hearings; 3) modify the Information Management
System to better track the progress of cases in real time; 4) add capacity to the Data Management System
to allow AJs to have access to decisions of other AJs in a searchable format
similar to West Law; 5) expanded use of Hot Docs to expedite writing decisions
and orders in a consistent and uniform format; 6) set up standard hearing
sites, preferably in big cities; and 7) increase the use of mediation by third
party neutrals and Settlement Judge Conferences. Taken as a whole, implementation of these
suggestions will permit better tracking of case processing and provide AJs the
ability to more efficiently issue uniform and consistent orders and decisions
in conformance with EEOC precedent.
Overall, case processing times will decrease, as will the costs for
processing cases at the hearings level.
The Work Group is not in favor of
having all hearing requests being channeled through
A Council member from the State
Department asked how would EEOC handle hearing requests with urgency needs,
like those dealing with reasonable accommodation requests, under the 3-level
litigation track system. SAJ Kokenge
responded that these cases would be moved to the top of the list. He said that calling the SAJ ahead of time to
flag these cases would be very helpful.
SAJ Siegel said that she expedited cases for complainants who were going
to be deployed to
Delia Johnson inquired whether the
San Antonio Office was still holding telephonic hearings. Jorge Ponce responded that EEOC had rendered
several decisions invalidating these hearings, except in unusual
circumstances. SAJ Kokenge indicated
that video tele- conferences (VTCs) worked much better.
Milton Belardo, Council member and
Chair of the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers, asked
whether EEOC had considered re-hiring retired AJs to help out to reduce the
backlogs. SAJs Kokenge and Siegel
responded in the negative.
A Council member from the Treasury
Department inquired whether EEOC had any plans to bump up hearing requests that
dealt with political appointees, considering the presidential election in
progress. SAJ Siegel responded that
these decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis.
SAJ Siegel mentioned that
Complainants and their representatives were not happy with the recent increase
in summary judgments. SAJs Siegel and Kokenge stated that they thought that
these individuals would be much happier with the 3-level litigation track
system.
Diversity Presentation
Mr. Thadius Sale, Consultant and
Training Instructor with Management Dynamics, Inc., gave a presentation on
leadership, diversity, and inclusion.
Mr. Sale indicated that the best
way to show the value of diversity/inclusion initiatives to any organization was
through various economic models. It is
imperative that managers maximize the contributions of all employees. Agencies
that want to be successful must have their “insides” reflect the make-up of the
“outside.”
He surveyed the attendees at the
Council meeting, which showed a composition of 80% African-Americans, 15%
Whites, and very low representation (less than 5%) of Hispanics and
Asians. Mr. Sale concluded that this
result could not have happened by mere chance.
He stated that one of the sad side effects of
9-11 was an increase in the discrimination against “legal” immigrants. Most of these immigrants are better educated
than Americans and are family grounded.
The
Managers have to be able to manage
and lead diverse workforces. Baby
boomers place a lot of trust in their employers. Their learned style of management is “command
and control.” They are loyal to their employer, expect
lifelong employment with the same agency, and job titles are important to
them. They expect their employer to
provide them with the necessary education, classroom and tools for the skills
needed in the workplace. In contrast,
younger employees expect to change jobs several times in their careers, require
the latest gadgets, and take control of their own self-improvement. They want to utilize their skills at work,
see space for advancement, and be rewarded for their contributions. They question authority, and expect clear
unfiltered communication. In addition, they are “free agent” learners in that
they know that they cannot wait for the employer to drive the learning process
if they want to keep their skills on the cutting edge.
The most successful companies
spend 7 to 10 percent of their payroll on training, compared with the standard
2 to 3 percent. Mentoring is becoming
more important, not only because it is often as effective as training, but
because it can help to revitalize older employees when they are matched with
younger employees.
Mr. Sale pointed out that the
Mr. Sale stated that racism is
alive today, but that discrimination is more covert. He also said that ethnicity and ageism were a
big deal in today’s workplaces. For
example, he said that Hispanics in the federal workforce were highly educated,
although there were many employees and managers who still held on to
stereotypical views that they were mostly “lettuce pickers.” By 2040, Hispanics will be dominant in the
workforce – 1 out 4 persons will be of Hispanic origin. They come from cultures that fear the power
structures – especially in the law enforcement arena -- which explains why they
vote with their feet when they don’t get promoted and why they don’t file a lot
of discrimination complaints.
Mr. Sale discussed “professional
ghettos” in the federal government. For
example, he stated that there was a large concentration of African-Americans
employed in Human Resources, Civil Rights (as shown by earlier survey of
attendees at the Council meeting),
mail rooms, cafeterias, and
security jobs. The managers in these
agencies claim that they would like to hire more minorities in other job
series, but they simply can’t find them.
The Federal Government is not
doing enough to hire more applicants/employees with disabilities. As noted in the EEOC’s Annual
Report on the Federal Workforce for FY 2006, from FY 1997 to FY 2006, the Total
Work Force increased by 135,732 employees, a net change of 5.48%.
However, the number of federal employees with targeted disabilities decreased
from 28,671 in FY 1997 to 24,442 in FY 2006, a net change of –14.75%.
Mr.
Sale stated that companies that were in trouble had managers who were “letting
their eyes play tricks on them, and they were acting on them.” He indicated that some of these managers had
to be let go.
Mr. Sale pointed out that middle
managers were the ones that offered the most resistance to diversity
initiatives because they were the ones who had the most to lose. One of the problems is that federal agencies
promoted these individuals into management positions without providing them
with the necessary training on how to manage a diverse workforce.
The prediction is that in the next
ten years, there’ll be 168M jobs in the
Some of the most diverse and
inclusive organizations have the following characteristics in common:1) top
leadership commitment; 2) make affirmative action a part of their strategic
plans; 3) hold managers accountable; 4) bridge affirmative action with
succession planning; 5) re-energize recruitment; and 6) train employees.
To get in contact with Mr. Sale,
you can send him an e-mail at MgtDynam@aol.com,
call him at 301 576-7460 or send him a fax
at 301 576-3556. The website for
Management Dynamics, Inc., is at http://www.managementdynamicsinc.com.