US Special Counsel and the Treasury Department Judgment Fund

Even as the federal workforce shrank, employee complaints alleging discrimination or other mistreatment swelled in the 1990s and have already cost taxpayers more than $ 866 million, federal records show. Federal workers are seven times more likely to file a civil rights complaint than private sector employees, one analysis by federal managers found. Those who study such matters say federal workers are supersensitive about their rights, partly because the system makes it easy to seek redress. Downsizing seems to have contributed to the complaints. Between 1990 and 1997, the government’s payroll fell by 340 000, to 2.7 million, increasing competition for jobs and complaints from those laid off. Other causes include greater sensitivity to discrimination, changes in the law and a multilayered grievance process that doesn’t exist at private companies. Private firms also get worker complaints. But in Replica Tag Heuer Watches studying 10 years of complaints, the Senior Executive Association, a federal managers group, said government employees use the grievance system far more than workers at private companies. An Associated Press review of federal records found that from 1990 to 1997, the government spent $ 378 million on counselors, judges and investigators who handle complaints. Another $ 488 million went to employees who won compensation awards ranging from a few thousand dollars to millions for class-action lawsuits. No single agency tracks all worker complaints or costs. The AP reviewed documents from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Merit System Protection Board, US Special Counsel and the Treasury Department Judgment Fund. But many hidden costs, such as confidential financial settlements, couldn’t be calculated. “There’s a phenomenal cost,” said Jerry Shaw, an attorney for the executives association, “The system in the private sector is not anywhere near as elaborate.” In 1997, one-fifth of the allegations in EEOC complaints concerned racial discrimination, mostly toward blacks. But whites filed about one-fourth of the race cases, alleging reverse discrimination. More often, employees complain the government isn’t doing enough to provide equal opportunities for minorities, who make up 29 percent of the workforce. Experts attribute some of the rise in discrimination complaints to a 1991 law enabling federal employees to seek compensatory damages of up to $ 300 000 in such cases. The government is trying to reduce complaints. In 1990, Congress authorized federal agencies to use alternative dispute resolution, a mediation Tag Heuer Carrera Replica method popular in the private sector. More than 40 agencies are trying it. Officials at the Postal Service, source of the most complaints, say employee complaints recently fell by 77 percent in three regions offering mediation.