Civil rights leaders protest new Defense complaint process

Civil rights advocates and several federal agencies have sharply criticized a provision in the fiscal 2001 Defense Authorization Act aimed at streamlining discrimination complaint processes.

When it was passed in October, the Defense Authorization Bill for fiscal year 2001 funded the Defense Department for another year. One section of the act also mandated that the Defense Department create, on a pilot basis, an alternative method for resolving employee discrimination complaints, waiving procedural requirements of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Though President Clinton signed the bill into law, he admitted he had concerns about the provision, "Pilot Program for Reengineering the Equal Employment Opportunity Complaint Process."

"Eliminating these procedural safeguards could leave civilian employees without important means to ensure the protection of their civil rights," Clinton said on Oct. 30.

The measure aims to take some of the pressure off the EEOC, which has been berated by Congress because of its handling of discrimination complaints by federal employees. Legislators claim the process takes too long and costs the federal government too much.

Now, all federal agencies are required to establish Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) programs, which are designed to settle disputes outside a courtroom using some form of arbitration or mediation. Officials from the Postal Service and the Air Force have praised ADR efforts and have said the mediation process has worked well in their agencies.

But members of Blacks in Government (BIG), which represents African American employees in federal, state and local governments, say the new Defense Department measure is the beginning of the end as far as civil rights are concerned.

"Why would you allow the Defense Department to exempt themselves from civil rights employment laws?," asked Ollie Darby, a civil rights consultant who serves on BIG's legislative committee. "Federal employees will now be faced with the possibility of losing all of their employment rights based on the way this pilot program was passed."

In an effort to protect federal workers, Clinton has directed the Secretary of Defense to approve no more than three pilot programs-one in a military department and two in Defense agencies-and to personally approve each program.

"In order to assure that participation by civilian employees is truly voluntary, I am directing that the pilots provide that complaining parties may opt out of participation in the pilot at any time," Clinton said. "Finally, I am directing that the Secretary submit an assessment of the pilots, together with the underlying data, to the EEOC within 180 days of the completion of the 3-year pilot period."

Darby and Rawle King, who serves as chairman of BIG's legislative committee, say the provision is dangerous and question the ability of Congress to make changes to existing law by adding a provision to an appropriations bill.

"By setting up this program it violates an existing program," King said. "The Department of Defense would be violating civil rights laws with the blessings, in a sense, of the Congress."