Agency Oversight

House lawmakers push for EEOC to defend furlough threat

The EEOC disputes House Republicans’ claims that the budget problems were avoidable or they didn’t do enough to address their current funding situation.

Jason Miller@jmillerWFED

August 26, 2024 3:45 pm

3 min read

Two House lawmakers are pushing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to explain why it almost had to furlough almost all of its employees and are accusing agency leadership of “severe mismanagement.”

Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), the chairman of the committee’s workforce protections subcommittee, wrote to EEOC Chairwoman Charlotte Burroughs seeking documents and answers to questions about the decision to first issue the possible furlough notice and then to rescind it. They called the threat of the furlough “reckless and avoidable.”

Congress Parents Rights — Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) is the chairwoman of the Education and the Workforce Committee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The lawmakers say EEOC’s spending issues, including increased costs for operations and staffing, are “evidence of significant mismanagement at EEOC, indicating that furloughing workers and depriving taxpayers of EEOC services were inappropriate responses to avoidable spending issues.”

Foxx and Kiley say EEOC’s funding levels were not a surprise to anyone and they question why the agency didn’t take more steps to ensure services remained viable.

“This included failing to adjust for security, rent and contracting costs and to recalculate EEOC’s projections about staff departures,” the lawmakers wrote. “Further, you failed to account for the fact that the hiring of 493 new positions in fiscal 2023 would create additional spending restraints, which was obvious at the time.”

The EEOC received $455 million from Congress for this year after requesting $481 million.

EEOC leadership alerted its workforce in late July that a furlough was possible for Aug. 30 because of budget shortfalls. The agency rescinded the furlough notice on Aug. 20 because it had found enough savings to keep the agency open for the rest of the fiscal year.

EEOC disputes budget criticisms

An EEOC spokesman acknowledged the agency received the letter.

“Throughout the year, the agency took steps to navigate this financial challenge. For example, the agency limited hiring to only a handful of critical positions despite increased demand from the public for EEOC’s services; made significant, across-the-board operating cuts to all divisions; eliminated most training funds; substantially reduced travel; and delayed spending on longer term projects such as office moves and construction,” the spokesman said in an email to Federal News Network. “The notice of potential furlough was issued only in an abundance of caution, while the agency continued to find sufficient savings to avoid having to implement one. Thanks to the collective effort of the agency’s staff and our operational management team, we were able to do so.”

Foxx and Kiley say the furlough threat was the latest in a number of concerns the committee has with EEOC’s management.

“In March 2022, committee Republicans wrote to you seeking information about the Biden-Harris administration’s actions to return EEOC staff to in-person, on-site work. 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,” the lawmakers wrote. “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.”

By Sept. 10, the committee is seeking answers and documents including an explanation of why the EEOC chose Aug. 30 as the possible furlough date, an analysis of the impact of a one-day furlough on the agency’s operations and an assurance that the EEOC will not proposed another furlough before Sept. 30.

The EEOC spokesman countered the lawmaker’s claims of mismanagement or any loss of productivity by its workforce.

“The EEOC consistently provides a high return on investment for the American people, recovering significantly more in monetary benefits for victims of discrimination each year than our budget — $665 million in fiscal 2023 alone,” he said.