Sponsor: Ms. Marcia Coates, Department of the Treasury 

President: Mr. Luther Santiful opened the meeting at 10:05 am and asked attendees to provide a brief introduction.  

Vice Chair: Mr. Jorge Ponce announced that a Council member, Armando Rodriguez, currently the Chief of Administrative Law Judges at the Office of Personnel Management, has been selected as Assistant Secretary for Diversity Management and Equal Employment Opportunity at the Department of Veterans Affairs. He reports to his new position during the second week of August. 

Ms. Marcia Coates presented the Secretary of the Treasury Award to Mr. Ponce for his involvement in the planning of Federal Hispanic Executive Summit III, a conference co-sponsored by the Treasury Department and the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives (NAHFE). 

Attendees were given a package highlighting the Treasury Department’s National Equal Opportunity and Diversity Training Conference, which is scheduled for September 18-21, 2000, in Dallas, Texas.  

Mr. Charles Fowler, III, IRS’s Chief EEO and Diversity for National Headquarters, and Thelma Harris, IRS’s Director EEO and Diversity Field Services, presented agenda topics. 

The briefing provided information on how EEO and Diversity fit into the IRS modernization initiative. The organization components have been streamlined and resulted in modifications of the current EEO structure. The IRS organization has established three levels of service for EEO. The first is the National Headquarters, responsible for policy development & implementation; secondly, EEO Divisions, which are business specific; and finally, a newly formed Agency Wide Shared Service (AWSS) function, to be deployed on July 30, 2000, and which will be responsible for implementing EEO policy established by Headquarters. 

Council members were delighted to find out that the Chief EEO and Diversity for National Headquarters, together with his counterpart in Human Resources, report directly to the IRS Commissioner, just like the EEO regulations call for. Consequently, the EEO Chief sits in all executive boards, including the ones making decisions about SES selections and SES candidate development programs.  

The new IRS modernization initiative resulted in a reorganization of the IRS’ EEO operation, which created numerous vacancies. The Chief EEO and Diversity for National Headquarters insisted that the majority of these jobs be filled with EEO professionals in the 260 series, since these are the folks who have paid their dues in the EEO arena. Moreover, the EEO Chief argued successfully for the creation of 60 permanent, full-time EEO Counselor positions, which, in his mind, were more cost-effective for IRS than collateral, EEO Counselor positions.  

The IRS has also established an Equal Employment Opportunity Diversity Council to bring staff and directors together, ensure consistency, and provide a collaborative forum for making decisions on internal key business practices. Additionally, the plan promotes measures to more efficiently control EEO resources and improves the business qualifications and experience of fulltime EEO professionals.  

Due to negative publicity surrounding IRS’ image, the modernization concept is directed toward a three-legged prong that emphasizes customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and business results. 

A copy of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA98 Section 1203), addressing the Termination of Employment for Misconduct, was distributed. Procedural violations and disciplinary actions were discussed. Misconduct acts or omissions identified in Section 1203 of the RRA98 also encompass civil rights violations. The IRS agency’s disciplinary data is available for public review. Of particular interest to Council member was a discussion of Section 1203(b) of the Act, which called for the termination of managers by the IRS Commissioner when there has been a final administrative or judicial determination that such employee violated any of the civil rights statutes.

 Finally, the IRS is developing a mediation program for implementation.

Council members expressed concerns about processes that would encourage non-EEO selections over EEO careerist for top level EEO positions and the pitfalls encountered when contracting out EEO positions.

Mr. Santiful requested volunteers to host the September meeting. There will not be an August meeting.  

The meeting adjourned at 1155.