Federal anti-discrimination bill passes in the House

House lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill Tuesday that would make agencies more accountable for discrimination against their employees. The "No FEAR" Act of 2001 (H.R. 169), introduced by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., was introduced after allegations of discrimination at the Environmental Protection Agency came to the attention of the House Science Committee. Sensenbrenner is the former chairman of that committee. "After a year-long investigation I was surprised to discover that some federal agencies appeared to be allowing discrimination and retaliation in the workplace," said Sensenbrenner, who offered a similar bill during the 106th Congress. "A number of EPA employees came forward to tell Congress…about the systematic culture of discrimination at the EPA." In August 2000, Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, a black senior manager at EPA, won a $600,000 verdict in a race and sex discrimination suit against the agency. A month later, EPA employees held a press conference in Washington alleging widespread discrimination at the agency. Coleman-Adebayo said she is very happy with the bill and is pleased with the way Sensenbrenner has supported the bill and federal workers. "Now, Congress will say that this kind of behavior [discrimination] is unacceptable," Coleman-Adebayo said. "Since agency heads do not seem to have someone with the ability to provide executive leadership on civil rights issues, Congress is taking over that function, which is what we had hoped for," she said. Sensenbrenner's bill gives federal employees additional on-the-job protection against discrimination and retaliation in the workplace by requiring more accountability from agencies. The bill requires that agencies that lose or settle discrimination and whistleblower cases pay judgments out of their budgets. Currently, such payments are made out of a general federal judgment fund. Under the proposed law, agencies must also make employees aware of discrimination and whistleblower protection laws. The legislation would require each agency to file an annual report detailing the number of discrimination or whistleblower cases filed with it, how the cases were resolved, the amount of settlements made and the number of agency employees disciplined for discrimination or harassment. "The reporting requirement will help determine if a pattern of this behavior exists in an agency," Sensenbrenner said.