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  3. REPORT OF THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION ON ITS ADMINISTRATION OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, 5 U.S.C. Section 552, for FY 1999(1)

REPORT OF THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION ON ITS ADMINISTRATION OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, 5 U.S.C. Section 552, for FY 1999(1)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  1. Basic Information Regarding FOIA Report
    1. Name, title, address and telephone number of person to be contacted with questions about the report

      A. Jacy Thurmond, Jr.
      Assistant Legal Counsel
      EEOC
      Office of Legal Counsel
      1801 L Street, NW, 6th floor
      Washington, DC 20507
      (202) 663-4640

    2. Electronic address for report on the World Wide Web

      http://www.eeoc.gov/foia

    3. How to obtain a copy of the report in paper form

      A paper copy of the report may be requested by submitting a written request to:

      A. Jacy Thurmond, Jr.
      Assistant Legal Counsel
      EEOC
      Office of Legal Counsel
      1801 L Street, NW, 6th floor
      Washington, DC 20507
      (202) 663-4640

  2. How To Make A FOIA Request

    FOIA requests should be made in accordance with the Commission's regulations at 29 C.F.R. 1610.7.

    1. Names, address, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that receive FOIA requests

      See 29 C.F.R. 1610.4 and the agency's FOIA web page at http://www.eeoc.gov/FOIA for the EEOC FOIA contacts.

    2. Brief description of the agency's response time ranges

      The average response time ranges were 10-20 working days. The median number of calendar days to process a FOIA request was 18. The median number of calendar days to process a FOIA appeal was 21.

    3. Brief description of why some requests are not granted

      Many FY 1999 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests received by the Commission were for materials contained in the Commission's investigative case files that involved charges of discrimination filed pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. 621- 633, the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. 206(d), and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12101-213. Sections 706 (b) and 709 (e) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(b) and 8 (e), and section 107 of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12117, prohibit Commission employees from making Title VII or ADA charges, conciliation materials, required reports and case file information public. In certain instances, parties to the charge are entitled to access to the disclosable portions of the charge file.(2)

  3. Definitions Used In The Report

    The definitions set forth in the Department of Justice guidance were followed.

  4. Exemption 3 Statutes

    The primary exemption 3 statutes relied on were sections 706 (b) and 709 (e) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5 (b) and 8 (e) and section 107 of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12117. These sections prohibit Commission employees from making Title VII or ADA charges, conciliation materials, required reports and case file information public.

    The Commission's use of the third exemption has been upheld by the courts. The landmark case supporting the Commission's position is EEOC v. Associated Dry Goods Corp., 449 U.S. 590 (1981). In FY 1999, there was one court decision involving EEOC's use of this exemption. This case was Emelio Duarte-Vestar v. Thurmond, Civil Action No.97-2662 (D.D.C.) (Order entered on October 23, 1998 dismissing the case.)

    In addition, several requests for bids submitted by unsuccessful bidders were denied under 41 U.S.C. 253 b(m), another exemption 3 statute. In FY 1999, there were no court cases involving EEOC regarding its use of this exemption.

  5. Initial FOIA Access Requests
    1. Number of initial requests (total of the numbers in lines one and two, minus the number in line three, should equal the number in four)
      1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year 1,343
      2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year 15,838
      3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year 15,751
      4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year 1,430(This line has also been entered on line VII.B.1.)
    2. Disposition of initial requests
      1. Number of total grants 3,011
      2. Number of partial grants(3) 9,945
      3. Number of denials(4) 1,396
      4. Number of times each exemption was used (counting each exemption once per request)
        1. Exemption 1 0
        2. Exemption 2 26
        3. Exemption 3 1,160
        4. Exemption 4 20
        5. Exemption 5 9,702
        6. Exemption 6 290
        7. Exemption 7(A) 872
        8. Exemption 7(B) 128
        9. Exemption 7(C) 1,186
        10. Exemption 7(D) 89
        11. Exemption 7(E) 32
        12. Exemption 7(F) 1
        13. Exemption 8 0
        14. Exemption 9 0
      5. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 1,500
        1. no records 512
        2. referrals 171
        3. request withdrawn 169
        4. fee-related reason 24
        5. records not reasonably described 23
        6. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 35
        7. not an agency record 24
        8. duplicate request 103
        9. Others 439
  6. Appeals
    1. Number of appeals
      1. Number of appeals received during current fiscal year 373
      2. Number of appeals processed during current fiscal year 373
    2. Disposition of appeals
      1. Number of initial determinations completely upheld 188
      2. Number of initial determinations partially reversed 88
      3. Number of initial determinations completely reversed 24
      4. Number of times each exemption was used (counting each exemption once per request)
        1. Exemption 1 0
        2. Exemption 2 0
        3. Exemption 3 66
        4. Exemption 4 0
        5. Exemption 5 85
        6. Exemption 6 10
        7. Exemption 7(A) 39
        8. Exemption 7(B) 0
        9. Exemption 7(C) 51
        10. Exemption 7(D) 4
        11. Exemption 7(E) 0
        12. Exemption 7(F) 0
        13. Exemption 8 0
        14. Exemption 9 0
      5. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 73
        1. no records 14
        2. referrals 49
        3. request withdrawn 2
        4. fee-related reason 0
        5. records not reasonably described 0
        6. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 0
        7. not an agency record 0
        8. duplicate request 4
        9. other 4
  7. Compliance With Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests and Appeals
    1. Median(5)
      1. Ordinary requests
        1. number of requests processed 15,458
        2. median number of calendar days to process 18
      2. Complex requests
        1. number of requests processed 0
        2. median number of calendar days to process 0
      3. Requests accorded expedited processing
        1. number of requests processed 293
        2. median number of calendar days to process 4
      4. Appeals
        1. number of appeals processed 373
        2. median number of calendar days to process 21
    2. Status of pending requests
      1. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year 1,430 (Enter this number from line V.A.4)
      2. Median(6) number of calender days that such requests were pending as of thatdate 15.5
  8. Comparison With Previous Year (Optional)
    1. Comparison of number of requests received 17,633
    2. Comparison of numbers of requests processed 17,551
    3. Comparison of median number of calender days requests were pending as of end of fiscal year 15
    4. Other statistics significant to agency N/A
    5. Other N/A
  9. Costs/FOIA Staffing
    1. Staffing levels
      1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel 11
      2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties 163
      3. Total number of personnel (in work-years) 36.31(7)
    2. Total costs (including staff and all resources)
      1. FOIA processing(8)(including appeals) $1,555,180.00
      2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) $0.00
      3. Total costs $1,555,180.00
      4. Comparison with previous year (optional) $1,602,254.00
  10. Fees
    1. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests $50,342.30
    2. Percentage of total costs N/A
  11. FOIA Regulations

    EEOC's FOIA regulations are located at 29 C.F.R. Part 1610.

1. This report is submitted to the Attorney General of the United States pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552 (e)(1). The format utilized in this report adheres to the format recommended by the Department of Justice.

2. An example of non-disclosable material in a charge file would be the internal intra-agency deliberative documents. These documents are generally withheld under the fifth exemption to the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552 (b)(5).

3. This category only includes those situations where some records have been released and an exemption has been asserted to others; it does not include situations where some documents were released but others could not be found - that would be a total grant.

4. Denials are based on the exemptions listed in V.B.4 or the "other reasons for nondisclosure" listed in para. V.B.5.

5. The median number is the middle, not the average, number. For example, the median number of 3, 7, 20, 21 and 24 is 20, while the average is 15.

6. See footnote 6.

7. For example, if each of 4 employees devotes 50% of his or her time to FOIA, 4 people and 2 total work years would be reported.

8. Personnel costs were estimated by multiplying the percentage used for computing IX.A.3. by the average annual salary rates for those persons.

This page was last modified on January 7, 2000.