High Country Times

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) have addressed a letter to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Charlotte Burrows concerning potential gross mismanagement of congressionally appropriated funds. This alleged mismanagement nearly led to an administrative furlough for EEOC employees to "offset a funding shortfall." Although the planned furlough was reversed, it has raised significant concerns about possible financial mismanagement within the EEOC.

In their letter, the lawmakers stated: "This legislation [Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024] maintained EEOC’s spending level of $455 million—the highest level in EEOC’s history. This enacted level has been known to you and other Biden-Harris administration officials for nearly five months, and yet you failed to take the necessary steps to ensure that EEOC would not have a service interruption. This included failing to adjust for security, rent, and contracting costs and to recalculate EEOC’s projections about staff departures. Further, you failed to account for the fact that the hiring of 493 new positions in FY 2023 would create additional spending restraints, which was obvious at the time."

The letter continued: "In January 2023, Chairwoman Foxx sent you a letter continuing this oversight request during the 118th Congress. Despite the Committee’s concerns, EEOC leadership either continues to be stymied by—or is in agreement with—the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) as the union has successfully kept agency employees from fully returning to in-person work. This continued situation appears to have contributed to a decline in average productivity per employee—leading to your drive to hire nearly 500 new employees in a single year to help make up for the decreases in productivity and thereby increasing pressure on the annual budget… Your threat to furlough EEOC employees was reckless and avoidable. Despite your cancellation of the furlough, the Committee has questions about how this situation arose in the first place."

The lawmakers concluded by requesting that EEOC Chair Burrows provide additional information including:

- All documents and communications shared between EEOC and the Office of Management and Budget related to determining the need for the August 30 furlough.

- All documents and communications shared between EEOC and the Office of Personnel Management related to both proposing and canceling the August 30 furlough.

- All documents and communications shared between EEOC personnel and AFGE preceding management's decision regarding notification of staff about the proposed August 30 furlough.

- An explanation as to why August 30 was chosen as the date for this proposed furlough.

- An analysis detailing how an August 30 furlough would impact intake and processing of discrimination charges by EEOC offices.

- All documents from EEOC employees directed towards management concerning responses about this proposed August 30 furlough.

- Assurance that no further proposals for another furlough will occur during FY 2024.

To read more details from their full letter, click here.

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