Congressional Justifications for 2001 Estimates

The Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity (ODEEO) was established in 1995. ODEEO is responsible for planning and implementing the Department's Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Employment (EEO/AE) activities pursuant to the HUD regulations at 24 CFR Part 7. It is charged with preparing and monitoring HUD's Affirmative Employment Program (AEP) and providing guidance in the development and implementation of Headquarters and Field AEP Plans. This Office processes complaints of employment discrimination filed by HUD employees and applicants for employment under Executive Order 11478, Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as amended, the Rehabilitation Act, the Equal Pay Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Departmental regulations.

The Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity reports directly to the Secretary. The Office is composed of an Equal Employment Opportunity Division (EEOD) and an Affirmative Employment Division (AED). It is comprised of a small staff of EEO/AE Specialists in Headquarters and Permanent EEO Counselors in the Field. This staff is supplemented with collateral duty EEO Counselors, along with collateral duty EEO Discrimination Complaint Managers, Affirmative Employment Program Managers and Diversity Managers located in the HUD Program Offices.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Division is responsible for: (a) EEO complaint investigation and adjudication; (b) compliance and enforcement activities under Executive Order 11478; and (c) enforcement of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Department regulations. This Division has primary responsibility for EEO complaint processing, including complaint receipt, assignment of the complaints for investigation, review of the investigative file and writing the Final Agency Decision. It also coordinates and supervises the Department's EEO counseling activities, monitors complaint processing by the EEO Officers, and provides technical assistance and training.

The Affirmative Employment Division is responsible for the management of HUD's Affirmative Employment Program (AEP). This involves the provision of guidance, training and technical assistance to the EEO Officers and their AEP Managers in the development and implementation of AEP Plans for the employment of women, minorities and persons with disabilities. This involves:

• developing recruitment and outreach strategies to attract minorities, women and persons with disabilities to the Department;
• managing the Department's Diversity Program and interfacing with national groups such as the NAACP and LULAC;
• co-managing the Department's Mentoring Program with the HUD Training Academy to provide female and minority employees with the experiences and assistance of successful HUD staff members to guide them in their career development;
• providing training and technical assistance in implementing the Managers' Guide for Persons with Disabilities, for the recruitment, hiring and employment of persons with disabilities, including methods of providing reasonable accommodation to disabled persons seeking positions and those already employed by the Department;
• implementing and promoting the HUD 2020 Management Reform Plan through the "Valuing the HUD Employee," "Valuing the HUD Customer" and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) training programs; and, maintaining the "Valuing the HUD Employee" HUDweb Intranet site;
• managing the Exit Survey which is administered to all persons separating from the Department in order to determine why certain groups of women and minorities are leaving and how this loss can be reduced in order to maintain a representative work force;
• managing the Applicant Flow System to determine whether the applicant pool for the Department's positions is sufficiently representative of the Civilian Labor Force and whether appropriate applicants are being selected to meet the Department's AEP goals; and
• analyzing data and preparing reports on the Department's AEP progress for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and HUD's management staff.

The table below identifies travel requirements unique to this activity.

The travel funding requested for
2001 will allow the EEO Counselors to travel within their jurisdictions to conduct EEO counseling, alternate dispute resolution activities, and monitor the performance of contract investigators. It will also permit EEOD management staff to attend EEOC's annual conference which is designed to keep Federal EEO officials informed of developments in EEO procedures, laws and interpretations. Funding is also required for travel to the Field to monitor and evaluate implementation of EEO/AE efforts as part of HUD's Management Plan. Implementation of the "Valuing the HUD Employee," "Valuing the HUD Customer," and the ADR Program will require AED staff to travel to the field for training and monitoring of the programs. Finally, AED staff need to be fully briefed on the latest techniques for preparing Affirmative Employment Plans, methods of effecting Affirmative Action and Managing Diversity, and attendance at training conferences sponsored by EEOC, OPM and HUD contractors will be mandatory.

The table below identifies contract requirements unique to this activity.

Technical Services. Funding is requested in 2001 for EEO contract investigations and for the continuation of the Department's Diversity Program. In addition to the contracting of investigations, contracting of the preparation of Final Agency Decisions (FADs) and for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) activities are needed to reduce the backlog of EEO complaints. The EEOC has mandated in their latest regulations that all agencies have a ADR Program in place by January 1, 1999. Funding is included for the training of all managers, supervisors and staff on the use of HUD's ADR Program, called Conflict Avoidance, Resolution and Repair (CARR). In order for the Diversity Program to be successful and to fully support the continuing implementation of the HUD 2020 Management Reform Plan, it must contain effective strategies for the development and management of qualified minorities, women and persons with disabilities. Additionally, implementation of the automated EEO Management and Analysis System (EEOMAS) must be continued to provide up to the minute AEP and Diversity information to all managers, supervisors and staff. Continuation of training and implementation actions is needed in order to effectively integrate the F.A.I.R. (Feedback, Assistance, Inclusion and Respect) concepts introduced in the 1996 "Valuing the HUD Employee" training and the 1997 "Valuing the HUD Customer" training, and reinforced in the 1999 CARR Program, into the daily activities of the Department and in support of the HUD 2020 Management Reform Plan.