Setting Priorities: Organizational Change at a Federal Civil Rights Agency
✍ Scribed by Igasaki, Paul M.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2001
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 76 KB
- Volume
- 21
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1531-1864
- DOI
- 10.1002/npr.1116
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
In 1995, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was drowning in an ever rising tide
of aging charges of discrimination, and its litigation program was treading water in a sea of relatively
insignificant lawsuits. The agency's stakeholders—employers and the civil rights
community—normally have diametrically opposed positions on most issues, but they were in full agreement
about one thing: The EEOC's credibility as a law enforcement agency was crippled. The agency took far too
long to investigate charges, and very few of the lawsuits it filed involved matters of public importance. As a
result, the agency had little deterrent effect on discriminatory behavior. Some of this was a result of budget and
staffing shortages, and some was caused by Commission policies. Whatever the causes, the Commission has made
dramatic reforms since 1995, though much work remains to be done to fulfill its mission. © 2001 John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.