Senate panel passes anti-discrimination bill

The Senate Governmental Affairs committee passed a bill Thursday to change the way federal agencies settle lost discrimination cases and to give federal employees additional on-the-job protection against discrimination and retaliation in the workplace.

Under the legislation (H.R. 169), the "Notification and Federal Employee Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2001" (No FEAR), legal settlements with federal employees in discrimination cases would be paid from the budget of the agency that employed them.

The current system requires payments to come from a government-wide settlement fund. Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said the current system "discourages accountability."

The No FEAR bill also requires that all federal employees be informed in writing about anti-discrimination policies and that federal agencies make annual reports to Congress on the status of any discrimination complaints, and post similar information on their Web sites.

The bill is in response to an August, 2000 discrimination case in which the Environmental Protection Agency was forced to pay a senior scientist $600,000, and similar class action suits against at least five other agencies. The House passed the measure on Oct. 2, 2001.

The Senate panel passed one amendment on a voice vote. The amendment would require the General Accounting Office to study the cost of the Department of Justice defending federal whistleblower cases, tighten the reporting requirements in the bill and make other technical changes.

Ranking Republican Fred Thompson of Tennessee said he had questions about the bill's effect on the settlement fund. He said he would work with Lieberman on additional GAO report language, but he was willing to support the legislation.