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Equal Employment Opportunity: EEOC and State Agencies Did Not Fully Investigate Discrimination Charges

HRD-89-11 Published: Oct 11, 1988. Publicly Released: Oct 11, 1988.
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Highlights

In response to a congressional request, GAO: (1) reviewed six Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) districts' and five states' fair employment practices agencies' (FEPA) efforts to fully investigate discrimination charges; and (2) assessed how well EEOC monitored state investigative work.

Recommendations

Matter for Congressional Consideration

Matter Status Comments
The Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and Labor and Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, and the chairmen of other appropriate congressional committees having responsibility for EEOC, should jointly establish a panel of experts to consider the strategy being used to enforce employment discrimination laws. In considering options, the panel should determine the: (1) appropriate roles for EEOC and FEPA in investigating charges; and (2) resources needed to carry out the roles assigned to each entity.
Closed – Not Implemented
According to subcommittee staff member Eric Jensen, Subcommittee on Employment Opportunities, there has been no action due to other committee priorities.
The Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and Labor and Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, and the chairmen of other appropriate congressional committees having responsibility for EEOC, should jointly establish a panel of experts to consider the strategy being used to enforce employment discrimination laws. In considering options, the panel should determine the: (1) appropriate roles for EEOC and FEPA in investigating charges; and (2) resources needed to carry out the roles assigned to each entity.
Closed – Not Implemented
According to Shirley Sagawa, Committee staff member, no action has been taken because of other committee priorities.

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The Chairman, EEOC, should emphasize the need to obtain all relevant documentary and testimonial evidence and to verify such evidence before reaching a decision on the merits of a charge. When such evidence is not obtained, the charge file should clearly contain reasons for the omissions.
Closed – Implemented
In addition to regular memoranda from headquarters to field staff on evidence, EEOC: (1) added comprehensive training in case development for all field supervisors and managers; and (2) continues to monitor the quality of investigations via charging parties' requests for reviews of their investigations.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The Chairman, EEOC, should conduct a study to determine the: (1) charge case load an individual investigator should be expected to carry annually and fully investigate; and (2) resources EEOC would need to fully investigate charges filed.
Closed – Not Implemented
The Chairman, EEOC, indicated that such a study is difficult to conduct and that case-load decisions are left to local managers. The Chairman determines the agency's investigative-resource needs by reviewing annual work-load statistics.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The Chairman, EEOC, should direct EEOC district offices to monitor the investigations performed by FEPA more closely and not accept FEPA determinations that are based on less than full investigations.
Closed – Not Implemented
The EEOC response to this recommendation simply reiterated its present procedures for reviewing FEPA investigations. Further monitoring would require additional unavailable resources.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The Chairman, EEOC, should establish an independent group to periodically conduct investigations of a sample of charges filed with EEOC district offices and FEPA and subject them to full investigations. The results of this work should be compared with the overall administrative closure, settlement, cause, and no-cause rates obtained from investigations done by the district offices and FEPA.
Closed – Not Implemented
In the EEOC response to the requirements of 31 U.S.C. 720, the Chairman stated that the Determination Review Program eliminated any need for an independent study, as recommended.

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Topics

Agency missionsEmployment discriminationFair employment programsstate relationsFull employment policiesIndependent regulatory commissionsInvestigations by federal agenciesLabor statisticsNoncomplianceDiscrimination