OPM blamed for under-representation of Hispanics in government

A coalition of 40 Hispanic groups held the Office of Personnel Management responsible for the under-representation of Hispanics in the federal workforce in a report released Tuesday.

Marking a thick red "F" on OPM's latest Hispanic employment report, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda released its own findings, accusing OPM of a failure in leadership and an unwillingness to hold agencies accountable for the gap between the percentage of Hispanics employed in the private and public sectors.

NHLA also criticized OPM's statistics, which in February put Hispanics at 7.4 percent of federal employees and 12.6 percent of the general workforce in 2005. NHLA said the number of Hispanics in the general labor force is higher, around 13.5 percent, and its growth is outpacing the government's hiring rate.

The percentage of Hispanic career senior executives in the federal government has actually decreased, from 2.5 percent in fiscal 2001 to 2.3 percent in fiscal 2005, according to NHLA. The coalition said this under-representation means a potential loss of 120,000 jobs for the Hispanic community, costing it more than $5 billion in addition to a lack of influence in policy decisions and funding for Hispanic programs.

Gilbert Sandate, who retired from a Senior Executive Service position at the Library of Congress as director of workforce diversity this summer, said the disparity stems from "nothing short of institutional discrimination."

"If gaining an entry-level job is a challenge for Hispanics," Sandate said, "cracking the Senior Executive Service is tantamount to climbing Mt. Everest."

A spokesman for OPM said NHLA did not send the agency a copy of its report, so officials could not comment on the document's contents.

In an earlier interview with Government Executive, however, Antonio San Martin Jr., a lawyer in the OPM general counsel's office who coordinates the agency's interaction with Hispanic advocacy groups, said the goal of parity with the private sector represents a quota and is illegal.

San Martin said OPM has actively worked to educate Hispanics about federal opportunities and to provide a fair, merit-based hiring practice.

"I can't show up to a conference with 50 jobs in my pocket and give them out to the people there as door prizes," San Martin said. "What we can give them is the information, the accessibility, the opportunity, the encouragement to know they will be treated fairly by the federal government."

NHLA's report is intended for members of Congress, some of whom asked the Government Accountability Office to issue its own report on the situation. GAO's report initially was scheduled for release in July, but has been pushed back until September. NHLA plans to ask Congress to hold hearings on the findings.

Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, a member of NHLA, said the report blamed OPM rather than individual agencies for the continuing disparity because it's a place to start.

"We need to start making sure that at least one agency is being held accountable," Murguia said.

In addition to Marguia's organization, NHLA includes the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund, the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives, the Cuban American National Council, and others.