Hispanic employees not getting their due, says rights coalition

Federal agencies are failing in efforts to recruit, retain and promote Hispanics, and Congress and the Bush administration must take immediate steps to address the problem, a coalition of civil rights groups said Monday.

Hispanics remain the only ethnic group underrepresented in the civilian federal workforce, the groups said at a press briefing. In fiscal 2003, Hispanics accounted for 13.1 percent of the U.S. civilian labor pool, but only 7 percent of the government workforce, according to statistics compiled by the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a nonpartisan advocacy organization. NHLA obtained these figures from a 2003 Office of Personnel Management report.

"We believe Hispanic representation at all levels translates into government access and the ability to influence public policies," NHLA chair Manuel Mirabal wrote in May 10 letters to the leaders of House and Senate government oversight subcommittees. "The success of employment initiatives in all federal agencies depends upon Congress and the administration's attention to the serious barriers Hispanics face in federal employment."

These barriers include ethnic and gender discrimination, ineffective recruitment and limited access to Senior Executive Service positions, Mirabal argued. The most recent OPM statistics show that Hispanics hold 4.3 percent of GS-13 to GS-15 level positions, and 3.3 percent of SES positions, he said.

"Congress has failed in its oversight role to hold federal agencies accountable for their lack of progress in reducing Hispanic underrepresentation," Mirabal wrote in his letter to lawmakers.

He asked the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia and the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Civil Service and Agency Organization to hold hearings. He also requested meetings with subcommittee chairpersons Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va.

The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda also called for a General Accounting Office study of agency recruitment practices. "The lack of analytical data and programmatic information on federal agency recruitment and retention efforts limits the ability to develop comprehensive solutions to correct this critical problem," Mirabal said in a May 10 letter to Comptroller General David Walker.

Previous government attempts to open opportunities to Hispanics have failed partly because of a "lack of leadership from the very top," Mirabal said, adding that officials are reluctant to "drop the hammer on those not getting the job done."

Gilbert Sandate, vice chairman of the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives, said the Bush administration could draw more attention to the issue by establishing a national Office for Federal Hispanic Affairs and appointing senior advisors at the White House and each Cabinet-level agency to oversee recruitment and retention of Hispanics.

There are already "gatekeepers" at the agency level, including officials in human resources offices, who could make significant strides in recruiting and retaining higher percentages of Hispanic employees, said Jose Pardo-Kronemann, an attorney in the Housing and Urban Development Department's Office of General Counsel, who attended the press conference. "It can be accomplished," he said, "but you have to make it a mission."

The military has set an excellent example in recruiting Hispanics and other minorities, Pardo-Kronemann said. He noted that he has a friend in charge of recruiting for the Marine Corps. "He has made it a point: 'I'm going to prove that Hispanics can serve and they can serve their country well,' " Pardo-Kronemann said. As a result, roughly 14 percent of Marine recruits are of Hispanic descent.

OPM takes the issue of Hispanic underrepresentation seriously, and has encouraged agencies to step up hiring efforts, said Scott Hatch, the agency's communications director. OPM has hosted job fairs in cities with large Hispanic populations, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Tucson, Miami, Santa Fe and San Antonio, Hatch said. The personnel agency also sends speakers to high schools with high percentages of Hispanic students, in hopes of luring them to public service.

Members of the Chief Human Capital Officers' Council have also discussed Hispanic underrepresentation and are searching for ways to address the problem, Hatch said. But ultimately, OPM can only do so much; it is up to each agency to change hiring practices.

Hatch added that OPM also lacks the authority to make agencies promote Hispanics at higher rates, but has provided managers with numerous training courses on the issue. "What we can do is prod agencies," he said.

OPM believes that Hispanics have gained a stronger foothold in the federal workforce over the past few years. Historically, Hispanic representation has grown by about one tenth of a percentage point each year, but during the last two years, the growth rate increased to about two-tenths of a percentage point, Hatch said.

"There is some progress being made," Hatch said. "Is the progress sufficient? No. Is it fast enough? No."