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New EEOC Strategic Plan
April 01, 2012 posted by Steve Brownstein
by Les Rosen
The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the nation's leading enforcer of employment anti-discrimination laws, recently approved its 'Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2012-2016' that establishes a framework for achieving the EEOC's mission to "stop and remedy unlawful employment discrimination." The first of three strategic objectives in the EEOC Strategic Plan is to combat employment discrimination through strategic law enforcement with the goal of reducing employment discrimination, remedying discriminatory practices, and securing meaningful relief for victims. The new EEOC Strategic Plan is at: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/plan/strategic_plan_12to16.cfm.
Implementation of the new EEOC Strategic Plan began in March 2012. To accomplish its stated mission, the EEOC is pursuing three strategic objectives and their outcome goals:
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE I: Combat employment discrimination through strategic law enforcement, with the outcome goals of: 1) have a broad impact on reducing employment discrimination at the national and local levels; and 2) remedy discriminatory practices and secure meaningful relief for victims of discrimination;
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE II: Prevent employment discrimination through education and outreach, with the outcome goals of: 1) members of the public understand and know how to exercise their right to employment free of discrimination; and 2) employers, unions and employment agencies (covered entities) better address and resolve EEO issues, thereby creating more inclusive workplaces; and
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE III: Deliver excellent and consistent service through a skilled and diverse workforce and effective systems, with the outcome goal that all interactions with the public are timely, of high quality, and informative.
Focusing on STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE I, to reach the goals of reducing employment discrimination, remedying discriminatory practices, and securing meaningful relief for victims, the EEOC strategy includes:
Developing and implementing a Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) that: (1) establishes EEOC priorities and (2) integrates the EEOC's investigation, conciliation and litigation responsibilities in the private and state and local government sectors; adjudicatory and oversight responsibilities in the federal sector; and research, policy development, and education and outreach activities.
Rigorously and consistently implementing charge and case management systems to focus resources and enforcement on the EEOC's priorities.
Using administrative and litigation mechanisms to identify and attack discriminatory policies and other instances of systemic discrimination.
Using EEOC decisions and oversight activities to target pervasive discriminatory practices and policies in federal agencies.
Ensuring that remedies end discriminatory practices and deter future discrimination.
Seeking remedies that provide meaningful relief to individual victims of discrimination.
The Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) would replace the current National Enforcement Program and ensure a targeted, concentrated, and deliberate effort to identify and pursue priority issues and practices and prioritize types of investigations and cases. The SEP would also further an integrated, holistic approach to enforcement by lowering the barrier between the EEOC's work in the investigation and conciliation stage and its work in the litigation stage. The result will be an EEOC where all of its operations work in tandem to achieve its mission of stopping and remedying unlawful employment discrimination. The Strategic Enforcement Plan will be approved by the EEOC no later than September 2012.
Read the full article at: http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/2012/03/16/new-eeoc-strategic-plan-combats-employment-discrimination-through-strategic-law-enforcement/.
