Management's Discussion and Analysis

INTRODUCTION

This Fiscal Year 2015 Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) was prepared in accordance with the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 and the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Circular A-136, Financial Reporting Requirements. It presents the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's ("EEOC", "Commission," or "the agency") program results and financial performance and identifies management challenges. Agency efforts in each of these areas are summarized below. A more detailed discussion can be found in the following sections of the report:

• Performance Results: This section highlights the progress made in meeting the agency's performance measures, which are articulated in EEOC's Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2012 through 2016 that OMB has authorized the Commission to extend through fiscal year 2018.[1]

• The Inspector General's Statements: This section presents key management challenges identified by the Inspector General, the agency's progress and plans to address them, and a statement of compliance with the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA).

• The Consolidated Financial Statements: This section demonstrates efforts to be good stewards over the funds the agency receives to carry out its mission. Included is an independent auditor's opinion on the agency's financial statements.

This report also satisfies EEOC's obligation to provide Congress with annual reports of the agency's significant accomplishments achieved during the fiscal year.

AGENCY OVERVIEW

Fiscal year 2015 marked the 50^th anniversary of the Commission. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) created EEOC to enforce protections against employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, and sex. We opened our doors on July 2, 1965, a year to the day after the Civil Rights Act was signed.

In the 50 years since EEOC opened for business, the agency's responsibilities and workload have expanded exponentially. Today, we receive nearly 10 times as many charges a year as we did in 1965. In addition, Congress vested EEOC with responsibility to enforce the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Titles I and V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), and Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). In addition, in 1972, Congress further expanded our responsibilities by including the federal government within the protections afforded under Title VII and providing the agency with independent litigation authority against private employers under Title VII.

Today, EEOC is the leading federal law enforcement agency dedicated to eradicating employment discrimination. EEOC receives, investigates, and resolves charges of employment discrimination filed against private sector employers, employment agencies, labor unions, and state and local governments. Where the agency does not resolve these charges through conciliation or other informal methods, it may file suit in court against private sector employers, employment agencies and labor unions (and against state and local governments in cases alleging age discrimination or equal pay violations).

EEOC also leads and coordinates equal employment opportunity efforts across the federal government, and conducts administrative hearings and issues appellate decisions on complaints of discrimination filed by federal employees and applicants for federal employment. Finally, the agency engages in extensive communication and outreach, provides technical assistance, and promulgates regulations and written enforcement guidance to help employers and employees better understand their rights and responsibilities under the laws EEOC enforces.

A more detailed explanation of EEOC's structure and the laws it enforces can be found in Appendix A.

AGENCY RESULTS UNDER THE STRATEGIC PLAN PERFORMANCE MEASURES

The Government Performance and Results Modernization Act, enacted on January 4, 2011, requires federal agencies to prepare a Strategic Plan every four fiscal years, beginning in 2012. (5 U.S.C. 306, as amended). The Commission approved a Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2012-2016 ("Strategic Plan," "Plan") on February 22, 2012 (as modified on February 2, 2015),[2] which is located at: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/plan/strategic_plan_12to16.cfm.

EEOC's Strategic Plan established a national framework to achieve the agency's mission to "stop and remedy unlawful employment discrimination," in support of the Commission's vision of "justice and equality in the workplace." To that end, EEOC has committed to pursuing the following three strategic objectives and goals:

• Strategic Objective I. Combat employment discrimination through strategic law enforcement. The correlated goals are to: 1) have a broad impact on reducing employment discrimination at the national and local levels; and 2) remedy discriminatory practices and secure meaningful relief for victims of discrimination.

• Strategic Objective II. Prevent employment discrimination through education and outreach. The correlated goals are to have: 1) members of the public understand and know how to exercise their right to employment free of discrimination; and 2) employers, unions, and employment agencies (covered entities) better address and resolve equal employment opportunity (EEO) issues, thereby creating more inclusive workplaces.

• Strategic Objective III. Deliver excellent and consistent service through a skilled and diverse workforce and effective systems. The correlated goals are to have interactions with the public that are timely, of high quality, and informative.

The Plan also identified strategies for achieving each outcome goal and identified 14 performance measures for gauging EEOC's progress as it approaches fiscal year 2016. The agency's progress in meeting these measures is displayed below and discussed in detail in the Performance Results section of this report.

RELATED PROGRAM RESULTS AND ACTIVITIES HIGHLIGHTS

SERVING THE PUBLIC MORE EFFICIENTLY

This past fiscal year, EEOC strengthened its ability to enforce the federal equal employment laws efficiently and effectively. EEOC's Strategic Plan and Strategic Enforcement Plan provide the framework and direction for a robust and coordinated national enforcement program. This framework prioritizes enforcement and outreach efforts in areas with the greatest need and potential for strategic impact. To achieve this broader impact, EEOC continued to focus its law enforcement efforts on matters that have significant benefits for workers and employers, and which improve more workplace practices.

EEOC managed its charge workload in fiscal year 2015 strategically. These efforts resulted in a six percent increase in charge resolutions, even as workers filed more charges of discrimination compared to fiscal year 2014. EEOC resolved 92,641 charges and received 89,385 charges alleging discrimination in employment in fiscal year 2015. Front-line staff hired late in fiscal year 2014 contributed to these gains in resolutions as new staff reached full productivity this year. EEOC's enforcement program resolutions produced a surge in monetary benefits to $356.6 million, which is $60 million over the fiscal year 2014 level. These positive results demonstrate the high productivity of the EEOC workforce. The pending workload of 76,408 charges at the end of fiscal year 2015, while reflecting a slight increase of 750 charges over fiscal year 2014, also represents a definite trending down in months of inventory from 13 in the first quarter of 2015 to 10.9 at the end of the fourth quarter.

Enforcing the Law More Effectively

In fiscal year 2015, EEOC field legal units filed 142 merits lawsuits including 100 individual suits, and 42 suits involving discriminatory policies or multiple victims, of which 16 were systemic suits. EEOC's legal staff resolved 155 merits lawsuits in the federal district courts for a total monetary recovery of $65.3 million. At the end of fiscal year 2015, EEOC had 218 cases on its active district court docket, of which 48 (22 percent) involved challenges to systemic discrimination and 40 (18.3 percent) were multiple victim cases.

In fiscal year 2015, EEOC field offices resolved 268 systemic investigations and obtained over $33.5 million in remedies as a result. In addition, 100 systemic investigations resulted in reasonable cause findings.

In the federal sector, EEOC resolved 6,360 complaints and secured more than $94.9 million in relief for federal employees and applicants who requested hearings in fiscal year 2015. The number of requests for hearings on federal sector complaints decreased to 7,752 in fiscal year 2015 compared to 8,086 in fiscal year 2014.

During fiscal year 2015, EEOC received 3,649 appeals of final agency actions in the federal sector, an 8.8 percent decrease from the 4,003 such appeals received in fiscal year 2014. The agency resolved 3,850 appeals of agency decisions on federal sector complaints; including 42.4 percent of them within 180 days of their receipt. In fiscal year 2015, EEOC focused its appellate resources on resolving the oldest appeals, while at the same time attempting to resolve appeals of procedural dismissals in fewer than 180 days.

Leadership in Federal Civil Rights Enforcement

EEOC has strengthened collaborative efforts with enforcement partners in federal, state, and local government as well as with employer, employee, and academic communities to maximize the impact of our collective knowledge and resources. Throughout fiscal year 2015 EEOC has expanded collaborative efforts to address issues such as harassment and contributed to the work of intergovernmental efforts such as the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force, the Cabinet-level Reentry Council, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the Presidential Inter-agency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking, the President's HIV/AIDS Strategy, and the Interagency Working Group for the Consistent Enforcement of Federal Labor, Employment and Immigration Laws, among other collaborations, including EEOC's efforts to support the 21st Century Policing Taskforce.

Issuing regulations and guidance is at the heart of EEOC's role of leading the enforcement of federal employment anti-discrimination laws. Regulations and guidance inform individuals and employers of their legal rights and responsibilities, aid EEOC employees in conducting their work, and serve as references for the courts when resolving novel legal issues.

In fiscal year 2015, the agency issued two regulatory actions: an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) for the Federal Sector Equal Employment Opportunity Process, to pose questions to the public about what changes were needed to improve EEOC's federal sector procedures at Part 1614 (See http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/regulations/index.cfm, and at the Federal Register, https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/02/06/2015-02330/federal-sector-equal-employment-opportunity); and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the regulations and interpretive guidance implementing Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as they relate to employer wellness programs,to request comments on the proposal to amend the portion of the ADA regulations and interpretive guidance concerning disability-related inquiries and medical examinations of employees as they relate to employer wellness programs. (See http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/regulations/index.cfm and from the Federal Register at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/04/20/2015-08827/amendments-to-regulations-under-the-americans-with-disabilities-act.)

During fiscal year 2015, the agency also issued an Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues, which was an update of the Commission's July 2014 guidance on pregnancy discrimination in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Young v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 575 U.S. ---, 135 S. Ct. 1338 (2015), located at http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/pregnancy_guidance.cfm, as well as two related technical assistance documents about pregnancy discrimination: Questions and Answers about the EEOC's Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues, which can be found on EEOC's website at http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/pregnancy_qa.cfm; and the Fact Sheet for Small Businesses: Pregnancy Discrimination, which can be found on EEOC's website at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/pregnancy_factsheet.cfm.

Prevention through Outreach and Education

The agency's no-cost outreach programs reached 336,855 persons in fiscal year 2015. EEOC offices participated in over 3,700 no-cost educational, training, and outreach events. Additionally, in fiscal year 2015, the Training Institute, which is managed under a separate statutory authority that enables the agency to offer in-depth and specialized programs on a fee basis supplementing the free general informational and outreach activities, trained 12,000 individuals at more than 140 events, which included 28 Technical Assistance Program Seminars that were attended by over 5,000 participants.

These efforts targeted small businesses, vulnerable workers, underserved geographic areas and communities, and emphasized new statutory responsibilities, issues related to migrant workers, human trafficking and youth.

Investing in Our Workforce and Systems to Improve Service to the Public

In fiscal year 2015, EEOC continued to work on improving labor and employee relations. These efforts included regular meetings between the Office of the Chair and Union leadership on conditions of employment affecting bargaining unit employees.

EEOC participates in the OPM's Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) each year. The FEVS shows that EEOC employees continue to like the kind of work they do, believe their work is important, are willing to give extra effort to get a job done, and are looking for ways to do their jobs better. EEOC participated during the first wave of the 2015 FEVS administration from April 27, 2015 to June 5, 2015. EEOC's response rate for the 2015 FEVS was 60.9 percent, the agency's highest since fiscal year 2011 and 5.8 percentage points over the agency's 2014 response rate. In addition, EEOC's response rate is 11.2 percentage points higher than the government-wide response rate of 49.7 percent. EEOC attributes the increase in the agency's response rate to a robust communications strategy and an intense focus on the top four areas employees expressed as concerns, according to the fiscal year 2014 FEVS results.

MANAGEMENT ASSURANCES

Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA)

EEOC's internal controls and financial management systems were sound during fiscal year 2015, with the exception of nine findings of financial non-conformances. These financial non-conformances were identified in audit reports prepared by the Office of Inspector General (OIG): OIG Report No. 2014-02-FIN, January 13, 2015, and OIG Report No. 2014-01-FIN, November 17, 2014. During fiscal year 2015, the agency implemented corrective action plans to resolve all of these uncorrected financial, non-conformances.

Based on the actions taken, and considering the agency's controls environment as a whole, the agency concludes that during fiscal year 2015, its financial and internal controls systems were in compliance with the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA). The agency has developed corrective action plans for all of the financial non-conformances reported in fiscal year 2015. The controls systems were effective; agency resources were used consistent with the agency's mission; the resources were used in compliance with applicable laws and regulations; and, there was minimal potential for waste, fraud, and mismanagement of the resources.

EEOC's management is also responsible for establishing and maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, which includes safeguarding of assets and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. EEOC conducted its assessment of the effectiveness of the agency's internal control over financial reporting in accordance with OMB Circular A-123, Management's Responsibility for Internal Control, and a material weakness over the controls for financial reporting was subsequently identified by an independent financial audit and reported by the Office of Inspector General in our PAR. Based on the results of this evaluation, EEOC can provide qualified assurance that the internal controls over financial reporting as of September 30, 2015 were operating effectively, with the exception of one material weakness that was found in the design or operation of the agency's internal controls over financial reporting.

 

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Jenny R. Yang
Chair

November 16, 2015

Legal Compliance

EEOC maintained effective controls and compliance with the Anti-Deficiency Act, the Debt Collection Act of 1996, the Prompt Payment Act, Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, Pay and Allowance System for Civilian Employees, and the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012.

Limitations of the Financial Statements

The principal financial statements have been prepared to report the financial position and results of operations of the entity, pursuant to the requirements of 31 U.S.C. 3515 (b). While the statements have been prepared from the books and records of the entity in accordance with U.S. GAAP for Federal entities and the formats prescribed by OMB, the statements are in addition to the financial reports used to monitor and control budgetary resources, which are prepared from the same books and records. The statements should be read with the realization that they are for a component of the U.S. Government, a sovereign entity.

Financial Highlights

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular Number A-136 Revised dated August 4, 2015 was used as guidance for the preparation of the accompanying financial statements. EEOC prepares four financial statements: the Consolidated Balance Sheets, Consolidated Statements of Net Cost, Consolidated Statement of Changes in Net Position, and the Combined Statements of Budgetary Resources.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

The Consolidated Balance Sheets present amounts that are owned or managed by EEOC (assets); amounts owed (liabilities); and the net position of the agency divided between the cumulative results of operations and unexpended appropriations.

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EEOC's balance sheets show total assets of $75 million at the end of fiscal year 2015 and $82 million for fiscal year 2014. The change in assets resulted in a decrease of fund balance with Treasury for fiscal year 2015.

The Net Position is the sum of Unexpended Appropriations and the Cumulative Results of Operations. At the end of fiscal year 2015, EEOC's Net Position on its Balance Sheets and the Statement of Changes in Net Position is $16 million, a decrease of $4 million, or 20 percent changed from the fiscal year 2014 ending with a net decrease to Net Position of $4 million. This decrease is due primarily to a decrease in EEOC's Unexpended Appropriations for fiscal year 2015.

Consolidated Statements of Net Cost

The Consolidated Statements of Net Cost presents the gross cost incurred by all programs less any revenue earned. Overall, in fiscal year 2015, EEOC's Consolidated Statements of Net Cost of Operations increased by $13 million or 4 percent. The allocation of costs for fiscal year 2015 shows that the net cost for the private sector and outreach increased by $6 million, or 1 percent, while the net cost for Federal Sector Programs increased by $8 million or 15 percent.

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Consolidated Statement of Changes in Net Position

The Consolidated Statement of Changes in Net Position represent the change in the net position for fiscal years 2015 and 2014 from the cost of operations, appropriations received and used and the financing of some costs by other government agencies. The Consolidated Statement of Changes in Net Position decreased over last year by $4 million, or 20 percent. EEOC's total assets exceeded total liabilities (funded and unfunded) by approximately $16 million, or 27 percent.

Combined Statements of Budgetary Resources

The Combined Statements of Budgetary Resources shows how budgetary resources were made available and the status of those resources at the end of the fiscal year. In fiscal year 2015, EEOC received $364.5 million in budget authority. EEOC ended fiscal year 2015 with a slight decrease in total budgetary resources. Resources not available for new obligations at the end of the year totaled $4 million and $7 million in fiscal years 2015 and 2014, respectively. The unobligated balance not available represents expired budget authority from prior years that are no longer available for new obligations.

Use of Resources

The pie chart displays EEOC's fiscal year 2015 use of resources by major object class. The chart shows that Pay and Benefits, State & Local, Rent to GSA and Other Contractual Services consumed 96 percent of EEOC's resources, and other expenses (e.g., communication, utilities and miscellaneous charges, travel & transportation, equipment, supplies & materials, etc.) consumed 4 percent of EEOC's resources for fiscal year 2015.

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The dual axis chart below depicts EEOC's compensation and benefits versus full-time equivalents (FTE) over the past six years. EEOC ended fiscal year 2015 with 2,190 FTEs, a net increase of 92, or 4 percent, above fiscal year 2014.

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