EEOC still weighing database of discrimination complaints

A database that would contain information on federal managers accused of discrimination is still under consideration, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Managers' groups, including the Senior Executives Association and the Federal Managers Association, have voiced concern over a proposed database that could include names, Social Security numbers, addresses and other personal information about federal managers accused of discrimination and employees who file complaints. "EEOC is still examining the database issue. We remain aware of the important questions and concerns about database design on the part of some stakeholders," said an EEOC spokesman. "Any modifications to the data collected by federal agencies will be made in close consultation with privacy experts at the Office of Management and Budget and our key stakeholders." An interagency task force formed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Clinton administration's National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) was created in October 1999 to study and recommend ways to improve the EEO redress process. The task force was supposed to issue a report last fall on its recommendations for improving the complaints process, but ran out of time, according to an EEOC official. "The deliberations of the task force continued well beyond the anticipated completion date. Unfortunately, time ran out before the NPR was able to issue a final report on the work of the task force," said Carlton M. Hadden, director of federal operations at EEOC, in a Feb. 1 letter to task force members and stakeholders. Although NPR shut its doors in January, Hadden said EEOC will house the information gathered by the task force and work on incorporating its recommendations for improving the equal employment opportunity process. According to EEOC statistics, federal employees are filing fewer discrimination complaints with the agency, and the backlog of discrimination cases has decreased. The agency's fiscal 1999 report on the complaints process contains the latest data available on the subject. Formal discrimination complaints filed against federal agencies were down 5.3 percent in fiscal 1999-a decrease of 1,490 from fiscal 1998. Three agencies, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Endowment for the Humanities had no discrimination complaints filed against them in fiscal 1999.