VA Equal Employment Opportunity: Increased Attention Needed to Improve Program Effectiveness
Fast Facts
Federal law prohibits discrimination against federal employees on the basis of race, among other things. We reviewed the Department of Veterans Affairs' efforts to ensure equitable treatment of its employees.
VA's workforce is diverse but there are disparities in pay and promotions for some racial, ethnic, and gender groups, and VA could better address discrimination. While VA tracks complaints of alleged racial discrimination, it hasn't fully analyzed other data to understand the potential prevalence of discrimination throughout the agency.
We recommended that VA plan for and analyze data on reported discrimination to address potential trends.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a diverse workforce, but disparities exist in career outcomes. GAO found that VA had higher representation of certain historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups from fiscal years 2017 to 2021 than the national civilian labor force from 2014 to 2018 (the most recent data available). However, within VA's workforce, GAO estimated that from 2000 to 2021, certain of these groups hired into similar occupations had lower pay and attained fewer promotions than White men, on average (see figure).
Estimated Differences in Promotions of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) workers Hired into Similar Jobs 10 years after Starting Employment, by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender, Fiscal Years 2000-2021 (Percent Difference Relative to White Men)
VA tracks complaints of alleged racial discrimination and harassment, but has not fully analyzed other data to understand potential prevalence. While VA has a goal to develop a dashboard to assess data on workplace climate, it has not planned for or conducted this analysis. Until doing so, VA is not best positioned to identify and address trends in potential discrimination and harassment.
The continued misalignment of its equal employment opportunity (EEO) program with a federal directive hinders VA's ability to prevent and address employment discrimination. In 2020, GAO recommended that VA address these misalignment issues by ensuring VA's EEO director is not responsible for personnel functions and completing VA's planned realignment of its EEO Program Managers. As of April 2023, VA has not taken action to fully implement these recommendations.
While VA has several programs that can receive complaints from veterans who feel they have been discriminated against in VA programs, it does not have a comprehensive policy to ensure complaints are addressed. This created several issues, such as (1) inconsistent processing of complaints; (2) lack of communication with veterans; (3) lack of coordination across the offices receiving complaints; and (4) lack of data on complaints. As a result, VA may not have visibility into whether veterans' complaints have been fully addressed, or the potential extent of discrimination against veterans in VA programs.
Why GAO Did This Study
Federal law prohibits employment discrimination against federal employees and discrimination in federal programs on the basis of race, among other things. GAO was asked to review VA's efforts to ensure equitable treatment of its employees and veterans receiving its services or participating in its programs.
This report examines (1) what disparities, if any, exist between VA employees from different racial and ethnic groups; (2) how VA tracks potential racial discrimination against its employees; (3) the extent to which VA has practices to prevent and address employment discrimination; and (4) how VA assesses and addresses issues related to the treatment of veterans based on race in VA programs. GAO reviewed relevant federal laws, and VA policies and documents; analyzed employee personnel data, survey data, and data on EEO complaints; held discussion groups with VA employees; and interviewed VA officials, representatives from VA's unions, employee affinity groups, and veterans service organizations.
Recommendations
GAO continues to believe its prior recommendations on the structure of VA's EEO program have merit. GAO is making eight new recommendations, including that VA plan for and analyze data on reported discrimination and harassment and establish a comprehensive policy for addressing veterans' complaints. VA agreed with 7 recommendations and neither agreed nor disagreed with 1 to regularly conduct barrier analyses, which GAO continues to believe is warranted.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Veterans Affairs | 1. The Secretary of VA should finalize the I-DEA dashboard and use the data in the dashboard to regularly conduct trend analysis of internal and other data on perceived experiences of discrimination. Such analyses should pinpoint problematic locations, guide preventive efforts, and incorporate available data from VA's All Employee Survey; EEO and Harassment Prevention Program data; and information from other internal and external data collection efforts and assess trends down to the facility level. (Recommendation 1) |
VA agreed with this recommendation and noted plans to implement it. We will monitor the agency's efforts to address this recommendation.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | 2. The Secretary of VA should ensure that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resolution Management, Diversity and Inclusion assesses and addresses any potential risks to the independence of the agency's EEO program, including the Harassment Prevention Program. (Recommendation 2) |
VA agreed with this recommendation and noted plans to implement it. In April 2024, VA said that the department has an on-going assessment of potential risks to independence including of its EEO functions, the Harassment Prevention Program, and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program. To implement our recommendation, VA needs to fully review all aspects of its EEO program to determine whether there are potential conflicts including, for example, in reporting structures and job duties.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | 3. The Secretary of VA should ensure that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resolution Management, Diversity and Inclusion assesses the factors that increase the time it takes to implement the terms of final decisions in cases where discrimination is found and develops a plan to ensure these final decisions are implemented in a timely manner. (Recommendation 3) |
VA agreed with this recommendation and noted plans to implement it. We will monitor the agency's efforts to address this recommendation.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | 4. The Secretary of VA should ensure that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resolution Management, Diversity and Inclusion develops a strategic workforce plan that incorporates internal stakeholder feedback in order to meet its programmatic functions and goals. (Recommendation 4) |
VA agreed with this recommendation and noted plans to implement it. We will monitor the agency's efforts to address this recommendation.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | 5. The Secretary of VA should ensure that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resolution Management, Diversity and Inclusion regularly conducts analyses of VA workforce data to identify barriers to employment in the VA workforce; develop action plans for all identified barriers; and annually report on progress on implementing action plans. (Recommendation 5) |
VA neither agreed nor disagreed with this recommendation. VA noted that the culmination of its various analyses will result in findings and an action plan to improve any identified barriers to equal opportunity in the SES, Hispanic/Latino and disability hiring efforts at VA. However, it's not clear that VA's plan includes specific actions, with timeframes and responsible personnel, the agency will take to eliminate the barriers identified in its analysis. VA also did not provide documentation of conducting a barrier analysis for employees with disabilities. Further, VA has lacked a consistent effort to analyze barriers within its workforce, having reported that it did not conduct barrier analyses from fiscal years 2018 through 2020. VA did develop a Barrier Analysis Workgroup, however, VA did not provide clear plans on how to identify and prioritize additional barrier analyses or take the additional needed actions to eliminate identified barriers. We will monitor VA's efforts to take consistent steps to ensure equal access to employment opportunities.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | 6. The Secretary of VA should ensure that the Assistant Secretary for Human Resources & Administration/Operations, Security and Preparedness collects and analyzes information on facilities' hiring and promotion selection panel processes and addresses any findings from this analysis. This should include action plans with timeframes to address any deficiencies identified and sharing best practices. (Recommendation 6) |
VA agreed with this recommendation. In April 2024, VA said that the department is collecting and analyzing information from the VA administrations on hiring and promotion selection panel processes. VA said it will look for deficiencies in the panel processes as well as best practices. VA anticipates this will be completed in fiscal year 2024.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | 7. The Secretary of VA should work with the relevant offices to establish a comprehensive policy for addressing veterans' complaints of discrimination while accessing VA services or participating in VA programs. This policy should include (a) a standardized process for handling veteran complaints of discrimination from intake to final resolution; (b) requirements for communicating with veterans about the status of their complaints; (c) a process for coordinating related efforts across the agency; and (d) a centralized process and requirements for collecting comprehensive data on veterans' complaints, including their resolution. (Recommendation 7) |
VA agreed with this recommendation and noted plans to implement it. We will monitor the agency's efforts to address this recommendation.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | 8. The Secretary of VA should establish a communication strategy to promote veteran awareness of the External Complaint Program and other avenues for filing discrimination complaints. (Recommendation 8) |
VA agreed with this recommendation and noted plans to implement it. We will monitor the agency's efforts to address this recommendation.
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