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APPENDIX I GLOSSARY / DEFINITIONS

Administrative Support Workers - See "Occupational Categories."

Affirmation Rate - The percentage of appeal closures that were affirmed by the EEOC.

ADR Closures - The number of counselings or complaints that completed the ADR process during the fiscal year.

ADR Offer Rate - The percentage of completed/ended counselings or the complaint closures that received an ADR offer.

ADR Participation Rate - The percentage of completed/ended counseling or the complaint closures where both parties agreed to participate in ADR.

ADR Resolution Rate - The percentage of ADR closures that were resolved by either settlement or withdrawal from the EEO process.

Agency - Military departments as defined in Section 102 of Title 5, U.S. Code and executive agencies as defined in Section 105 of Tile 5, U.S. Code, the United States Postal Service, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Tennessee Valley Authority, those units of the legislative and judicial branches of the Federal government having positions in the competitive service, the National Oceanic and Atmosheric Administration Commissioned Corps, the Government Printing Office and the Smithsonian Institution (including those with employees and applicants for employment who are paid from non-appropriated funds).

Annual Reports - Reports required to be submitted to EEOC on agencies' affirmative employment program accomplishments pursuant to EEOC Management Directive 715.

Appeal Closures - The number of appeals decided by the EEOC during the fiscal year.

Appeal Receipts - The number of appeals filed with the EEOC during the fiscal year.

Appeals Inventory - The number of appeals on hand at the end of the fiscal year.

Average Age of Open Pending Inventory - Average number of days of all complaints, hearings or appeals which are not yet resolved at the end of the reporting period.

Average Processing Time - The total number of days divided by the number of investigations, complaint closures, hearing closures, or appeal closures.

Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) - This is a computer data file created and maintained by the OPM.  The file is based on personnel action information submitted directly to the OPM by Executive Branch federal agency appointing offices, and is updated monthly.  Some Executive Branch agencies do not submit data to the CPDF including the following: the Tennessee Valley Authority, United States Postal Service, Army & Air Force Exchange Service, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency.

Civilian Labor Force (CLF) - Data derived from the decennial census reflecting persons, 16 years of age or older who were employed or seeking employment, excluding those in the Armed Services.  CLF data used in this report is based on the 2000 Census.

Complainants - Individuals, either employees or applicants, who filed a formal complaint against a federal agency during the fiscal year.

Complaint Closures - The number of complaints that were completed in the formal complaint process during the fiscal year.

Complaint Rate - The percentage of individuals who filed a complaint per the total work force.

Complaints Filed - The number of complaints that were filed against the federal government during the fiscal year.

Completed/Ended Counselings - The number of counselings which were concluded/closed, either by a written settlement agreement, a written withdrawal from the counseling process, the issuance of a notice of right to file a formal complaint, the forwarding of a counseling to an Administrative Judge when requested/ordered by the Administrative Judge, or the filing of a complaint after the regulatory counseling period has expired even though not all counseling duties have been performed during the fiscal year.

Counseling Rate - The percentage of individuals who completed counseling per the total work force.

Counselings Initiated - The number of new counselings that began during the current fiscal year.

Craft Workers  - See "Occupational Categories."

Data from 2000 Census Special EEO File - Data derived from the 2000 decennial census (www.census.gov/eeo2000/).  

Decision to File Complaint Pending - The number of completed counselings in which (1) the agency did not receive a complaint, and (2) the 15-day period for filing a complaint had not expired at the end of the fiscal year.

Disability - A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.

Dismissals - An agency's final action on a complaint of discrimination which meets the criteria set forth in 29 C.F.R. § 1614.107(a).

EEOC Form 462 Report - The document in which federal agencies report their discrimination complaint process statistics by October 31st of each year.

Federal Wage System Positions - Positions OPM classifies as those whose primary duty involves the performance of physical work which requires a knowledge or experience of a trade, craft, or manual-labor work.

Final Agency Actions - An agency's final action on a complaint of discrimination, which includes a final agency decision, a final order implementing an EEOC Administrative Judge's decision or a final determination on a breach of settlement agreement claim.

General Schedule Positions - Positions OPM classifies as those whose primary duty requires knowledge or experience of an administrative, clerical, scientific, artistic, or technical nature.

Hearing Closures - The number of hearings decided by EEOC Administrative Judges during the fiscal year.

Hearing Requests - The number of hearings requested by complainants during the fiscal year.

Hearings Inventory - The number of hearing requests on hand at the end of the fiscal year.

Investigations - The number of agency reviews or inquiries into claims of discrimination raised in an EEO complaint, resulting in a report of investigation.

Laborers and Helpers - See "Occupational Categories."

Lump Sum Payment - A single payment made in a settlement which does not identify the portion of the amount paid for back pay, compensatory damages, attorney fees, etc.

Major Occupations - Agency occupations that are mission related and heavily populated relative to other occupations within the agency.

Merit Decisions - Decisions that determine whether or not discrimination was proven.  (issued by either a federal agency or an EEOC administrative judge).

MD-110 - EEO Management Directive 110 provides policies, procedures and guidance relating to the processing of employment discrimination complaints governed by the Commission's regulations in 29 CFR Part 1614.

MD-715 - EEO Management Directive 715 describes program responsibilities and reporting requirements relating to agencies' EEO programs.

MD-715 Report - The document which agencies use to annually report the status of its activities undertaken pursuant to its EEO program under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its activities undertaken pursuant to its affirmative action obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Monetary Benefits - A payment that an agency agreed to provide in a settlement agreement, a final agency decision finding discrimination, a final order agreeing to fully implement an EEOC Administrative Judge's decision containing a payment award, or in compliance with an Office of Federal Operations' appellate decision which ordered a payment award.

No Complaint Filed - Occurs when: (1) agency issues a Notice of Right to File Letter and does not receive a formal complaint within 15 days; or (2) the individual notifies the agency in writing that s/he is withdrawing from counseling.

Occupational Categories - The occupational categories for the EEO-9 are as follows: 

Administrative Support Workers - Includes all clerical-type work regardless of level of difficulty, where the activities are predominantly non-manual though some manual work not directly involved with altering or transporting the products is included.  Includes: bookkeepers, collectors (bills and accounts), messengers and office helpers, office machine operators (including computer), shipping and receiving clerks, stenographers, typists and secretaries, telegraph and telephone operators, legal assistants, and kindred workers.

Craft Workers - Manual workers of relatively high skill level having a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the processes involved in their work. Exercise considerable independent judgment and usually receive an extensive period of training.  Includes: the building trades, hourly paid supervisors and lead operators who are not members of management, mechanics and repairers, skilled machining occupations, compositors and typesetters, electricians, engravers, painters (construction and maintenance), motion picture projectionists, pattern and model makers, stationary engineers, tailors, arts occupations, hand painters, coaters, bakers, decorating occupations, and kindred workers.

Laborers and Helpers - Workers in manual occupations which generally require no special training who perform elementary duties that may be learned in a few days and require the application of little or no independent judgment. Includes: garage laborers, car washers and greasers, grounds keepers and gardeners, farm workers, stevedores, wood choppers, laborers performing lifting, digging, mixing, loading and pulling operations, and kindred workers.

Officials and Managers  - Occupations requiring administrative and managerial personnel who set broad policies, exercise overall responsibility for execution of these policies, and direct individual offices, programs, divisions or other units or special phases of an agency's operations.  In the federal sector, this category is further broken down into four sub-categories: (1) Executive/Senior Level - includes those at the GS-15 grade or in the career Senior Executive Service, (2) Mid-Level - includes those at the GS-13 or 14 grade, (3) First-Level - includes those at or below the GS-12 grade and (4) Other - includes employees in a number of different occupations which are primarily business, financial and administrative in nature, and do not have supervisory or significant policy responsibilities, such as Administrative Officers.

Operatives - Workers who operate machine or processing equipment or perform other factory-type duties of intermediate skill level which can be mastered in a few weeks and require only limited training.  Includes: apprentices (auto mechanics, plumbers, bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, machinists, mechanics, building trades, printing trades, etc.), operatives, attendants (auto service and parking), blasters, chauffeurs, delivery workers, sewers and stitchers, dryers, furnace workers, heaters, laundry and dry cleaning operatives, milliners, mine operatives and laborers, motor operators, oilers and greasers (except auto), painters (manufactured articles), photographic process workers, truck and tractor drivers, knitting, looping, taping and weaving machine operators, welders and flame cutters, electrical and electronic equipment assemblers, butchers and meat cutters, inspectors, testers and graders, hand packers and packagers, and kindred workers.

Professionals - Occupations requiring either college graduation or experience of such kind and amount as to provide a comparable background.

Technicians - Occupations requiring a combination of basic scientific knowledge and manual skill which can be obtained through two years of post high school education, such as is offered in many technical institutes and junior colleges, or through equivalent on-the-job training.

Sales Workers - Occupations engaging wholly or primarily in direct selling.

Service Workers - Workers in both protective and non-protective service occupations.

Officials and Managers - See "Occupational Categories."

Operatives  - See "Occupational Categories."

Other Pay System Positions - Those positions in alternative pay plans based on performance, like pay-banding, and market-based pay systems that are not easily converted to General Schedule and Related.

Outreach - Presentations and participation in meetings, conferences and seminars with employee and employer groups, professional associations, students, non-profit entities, community organizations and other members of the general public to provide general information about the EEOC, its mission, the employment discrimination laws enforced by EEOC and the complaint process.

Participation Rate - The extent to which members of a specific demographic group are represented in an agency's work force.

Permanent Work Force - Full-time, part-time and intermittent employees of a particular agency.  For purposes of this Report, those persons employed as of September 30, 2010.

Professionals  - See "Occupational Categories."

Race/Ethnicity -

American Indian or Alaska Native - All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintain cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.

Asian - All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Black or African American (Not of Hispanic Origin) - All persons having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.

Hispanic or Latino - All persons of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander - All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

White (Not of Hispanic Origin) - All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

Persons of Two or More Races - All persons who identify with two or more of the above race categories.

Reportable Disability - Any self-identified disability reported by an employee to the employing agency.

Sales Workers  - See "Occupational Categories."

Second Level Reporting Component - A subordinate component of a Federal agency which has 1,000 or more employees and which is required to file EEOC FORM 715-01 with the EEOC.  While many Federal agencies have subordinate components, not every subordinate component is a Second Level Reporting Component for purposes of filing EEOC FORM 715-01. A list of Federal agencies and departments covered by MD-715 and Second Level

Reporting Components is posted on the EEOC's website at: Department or Agency List with Second Level Reporting Components. 

Senior Pay Level Positions - Positions which include the career Senior Executive Service, Executive Schedule, Senior Foreign Service, and other employees earning salaries above grade 15 in the General Schedule in leadership positions.

Service workers - See "Occupational Categories."

Settlements - Where an agency agrees to award monetary or non-monetary benefits to an individual who agreed either to not file a formal complaint or to withdraw a formal complaint.

Targeted Disabilities - Those disabilities that the federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis.  The targeted disabilities (and the codes that represent them on the Office of Personnel Management's Standard Form 256) are: hearing 18 (previously deafness (16 and 17)); vision 21 (previously blindness (23 and 25)); missing extremities 30 (previously 28 and 32 through 38); partial paralysis 69 (previously 64 through 68); complete paralysis 79 (previously 71 through 78); epilepsy 82 (previously convulsive disorders (82)); severe intellectual disability 90 (previously mental retardation (90)); psychiatric disability 91 (previously mental illness (91)); and dwarfism 92 (previously distortion of limb and/or spine (92))."

Technicians  - See "Occupational Categories."

Temporary Work Force -Employees in positions established for a limited period of time, usually for less than a year.

Training - The process of educating managers and employees on the laws enforced by EEOC and how to prevent and correct discrimination in the workplace and educating EEO professionals in carrying out the agency's equal opportunity responsibilities.

Total Work Force - All employees of an agency subject to 29 C.F.R. Part 1614 regulations, including temporary, seasonal and permanent employees.  Total Work Force numbers in the Annual Report Part I, Section E are as reported by agencies in their EEO Form 462 Reports.  Total Work Force numbers in the Annual Report Part II, are as reported in the OPM's CPDF or for agencies that do not report to the CPDF, from their submitted annual MD-715 report. 

Withdrawals - An election to end the EEO process during the formal complaint stage.