Workers’ Rights in Jeopardy from Bush Cuts at Job Bias Agency

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/05/07/workers-rights-in-jeopardy-from-bush-cuts-at-job-bias-agency/

Workers’ Rights in Jeopardy from Bush Cuts at Job Bias Agency

by James Parks, May 7, 2007

The Bush administration has cut back funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that investigates racial and gender discrimination in the nation’s workplaces, to the point that the agency doesn’t have enough money or staff to do its job, according to two key senators. To top it off, the head of the EEOC says she is under a White House gag order not to ask for any more funds.

Since taking office in 2001, the Bush administration has closed eight of 23 EEOC district offices, opened a national call center staffed by private contractors, cut the agency’s budget in real dollars and reduced staff while EEOC’s case backlog is growing, says Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.).

The short-changing of the EEOC is taking its toll on the fair resolution of cases of workers who are discriminated against. More than one-third of the lawyers who represent plaintiffs in discrimination cases say in an online survey they have had difficulty in the last year in dealing with the intake and charge processing policies at EEOC field offices.

At a Senate hearing last week, EEOC Chairwoman Naomi Earp said her agency has lost 543 employees since 2001 when President Bush took office. Of that total, 500 were in enforcement. When Mikulski, chairwoman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, asked Earp if EEOC needs more staff and if Earp was prohibited by the Office of Management and Budget from saying so, she replied:

Yes, ma’am.

FULL story at link.