Assessment of statutory policy enforcement: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission public sector complaint process

This research is an assessment of the quasi-judicial effectiveness of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as an administrative agency for the enforcement of statutory policy for public sector equal rights protection. The EEOC clears civil suits by individuals who feel that they have been discriminated against in hiring and promotions in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The assessment is based on the case management processing and agency influence of the number of cases of finding of discrimination. The performance level is considered weak as a result of the disparity of the number of complaints and the end process result. This research will analyze EEOC public sector complaint outcomes from 74 federal agencies from 1982 to 1992. The EEOC public sector complaint process is categorized as an informal adjudication process. The informal process makes use of conciliation to resolve issues to void the use of the complaint process. The EEOC enforcement powers are limited and frequently not utilized because of the juncture in the process where the EEOC's decision is considered binding. This protracts a system that already is taking years to traverse. The Commission is relegated to a role of program monitor/investigator, while administering policy. The structure of the current process provides a means for EEOC to monitor and control the agencies' investigatory processes for dealing with discrimination complaints and to ensure that the agencies' employment practices are acceptable. The EEOC public sector complaint process has remained virtually unchanged, as established in 1965. My research is unique in that most EEOC research is a combination of the private and public sectors or the private sector alone. The public sector has not been assessed on its own merits to explain the low findings of discrimination compared to the high complaint rate. This reflects the potential of a system overwhelmed or not performing efficiently. My assessment of the EEOC's ability to enforce equal employment rights and administer and enforce EEOC decisions of cases provides some insight into its operation. (1) The EEOC has limited enforcement powers. (2) The decentralization of the EEOC case management processing for public sector complaints presents the potential for malfeasance for equal employment rights. My research is a macro level evaluation. I have contributed to the expansion of the utilization of case management theory beyond the realm of social work for use as an evaluator for regulatory agencies. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).