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GAO-01-844R 1 (2001-06-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptanox0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SGAO Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 June 26, 2001 The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives Subject: The Federal Workforce: Answers to Questions Related to the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2001 Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter responds to your request for additional information following the Committee's May 9, 2001, hearing on the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation (NoFEAR) Act of 2001, at which I testified.' Because our responses to your questions are based primarily on our previous work and the knowledge we have gained in doing this work, we did not seek agency comments on a draft of this letter. Your questions and our responses follow. 1. Please describe what kind of message an agency sends to its employees when its managers and employees who discriminate are not disciplined. Under regulations promulgated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) governing the discrimination complaint process for federal employees, agencies are to take appropriate disciplinary action against employees who engage in discriminatory practices. Not taking action-or the appearance that action is not taken-can send a message that the agency is indifferent to unlawful discrimination or, worse, tolerant of such behavior. We believe that transparency is important with regard to reporting actions taken in cases in which discrimination is found, lest the agency send an unintended message that it is not committed to treating its workforce fairly and holding individuals accountable for their actions. Therefore, in addition to an unambiguous policy of zero tolerance, an agency should have clearly defined and transparent policies and procedures for identifying and determining the culpability of individuals involved in discrimination cases. In other words, employees should be 'The Federal Workforce: Observations on Protections From Discrimination and Reprisal for Whistleblowing (GAO-0 1-715T, May 9, 2001). '29 C.F.R. 1614.102(a)(6). GAO-01-844R Responses to Questions on the NoFEAR Act

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