Due in part to overwhelming demand, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has rescheduled a Washington town hall meeting on the federal sector EEO complaint process and added another meeting.
The meetings will now be held May 4 and May 18 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at EEOC headquarters. The original meeting was scheduled for April 25.
The purpose of the town hall meetings is to solicit stakeholder feedback on reforms the agency is making to its federal sector complaint processing as well as its new federal sector task force.
Federal agencies face a backlog of thousands of EEO complaints and spin-off complaints in various stages of the federal EEO redress system. The task force will develop a report on how agencies can make their EEO redress systems smoother. The group will also foster pilot projects for testing new methods of resolving EEO disputes.
At a recent hearing on Capitol Hill, lawmakers blasted the EEOC for its slow handling of complaints. The town hall meetings will solicit feedback from federal employee unions, civil rights advocacy groups, federal employees and managers on reforms made so far and additional steps that could make the process more efficient.
"We look forward to hearing from the public about the commission's ongoing efforts to eradicate workplace bias in the federal government and to make the EEO process fairer and more efficient for federal employees and agencies alike," said EEOC Chairwoman Ida L. Castro.
Those interested in attending one of the town hall meetings should contact Joel Kravetz of EEOC's Office of Federal Operations at (202) 663-4529 or via e-mail at joel.kravetz@eeoc.gov.