NAACP FEDERAL SECTOR TASK FORCE
12803 STONECREST
DRIVE
SILVER SPRING,
MD 20904-5236 301-622-3633
June 23,
2004
Tanya Ballard
Managing Editor
GOVEXEC.com
tballard@govexec.com
This correspondence is in response to the June 15, 2004
article by Shawn Zeller, entitled
Shawn Zeller indicated that in order for the federal sector discrimination
process to improve, civil rights groups, federal agencies, unions and Congress
all have to put aside their parochial concerns.
I would argue that in order to improve the civil rights programs in the federal
sector, EEOC Chair Dominguez has to collaborate with other stakeholders.
Since getting to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Dominguez
has basically adopted a my-way/or-no way attitude that has alienated all the
civil rights champions that she’s come in contact with.
On March 25, 2003, a coalition of civil rights, EEO executives, employee
advocates, and other stakeholder groups submitted a letter to EEOC with its
thoughts on improving the Federal EEO process. If Dominguez were serious
about reforming the complaints process, she had what she needed in this
document.
Lately, Dominguez has resorted to adopting indirect measures when she is unable
to get what she wants through normal channels. For example, she asked
contractors to submit plans for developing a national customer service center
before securing designated funding from Congress. In addition, as
of June 1, 2004, in the EEOC’s Washington Field Office, she has sanctioned a
triage system for processing complaints. This system will result in some
complaints being dismissed without giving complainants an opportunity to
supplement the reports of investigation through the discovery process.
This system was implemented even though the FY 2002 Annual Report indicated
that EEOC would use the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking system to announce
reforms to the federal sector discrimination complaint process.
In addition, under her leadership, EEOC has
allowed the EEOC's San Antonio District Office to conduct telephonic
hearings, which can only harm complainants and agencies since it is
impossible for EEOC Administrative Judges to make credible determinations over
the telephone. Finally, during the spring of 2004, without
allowing federal agencies the opportunity to review and/or comment,
Dominguez hastily issued the Instructions to Federal Agencies for Equal
Employment Opportunity Directive 715 (MD-715). These Instructions have
placed the data-collection activities by federal agencies at odds with those of
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Census Bureau, and the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB).
Dominguez tries to justify her proposals by using sayings such as
"Justice Delayed is Justice Denied." Civil rights
stakeholders are against this philosophy and any reform that will expedite
the processing of discrimination complaints while decreasing
important complainants' rights, i.e., the ability to get a thorough report
of investigation from federal agencies, the right to augment the report of
investigation through the discovery process, and the right to get an EEOC
hearing.
It is ironic that, in a year when the
Nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's historic
decision on Brown v. Board of Education and is about to celebrate the 40th
anniversary of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
Dominguez has engaged herself on a full-time campaign to
decrease the civil rights of federal employees.
The NAACP Federal Sector Task Force is prepared
to conduct protest demonstrations against the policies of the EEOC Chair,
starting within the next few days. We
believe the Chair is on the wrong track and we are prepared to oppose insane
policies, unilaterally implemented by her and her aides. The Task Force will responses appropriately
in the days and months ahead.
We believe the EEOC Chair’s
actions and policies are an embarrassment to the other EEOC Commissioners, who
probably have not voted to approve many of her actions.
Someone should remind
Dominguez of the famous saying from John Donne, the English poet: No man is an
island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of a continent, a part of the
main. While John Donne made this famous saying during the XVII century,
it is still applicable to men and women nowadays. We understand
that the basis for much Dominguez's thinking may be native to
the Caribbean island where she was born and bred; however, we urge,
through this communiqué, that she should set aside her parochial
views and join the civil rights struggle in America. A leadership style patterned after Fidel Castro’s one-person
dictatorship is unacceptable in America.
Leadership in America is a shared responsibility, with the four EEOC
Commissioners and stakeholders.
Leroy W. Warren,
Jr.
Leroy W. Warren, Jr.
Chairman
NAACP Federal Sector Task Force