Personnel Appeals Board: Follow-Up Report: GAO's Discrimination Complaint Process and Mediation Program

GAO reviewed the steps taken by the Personnel Appeals Board (PAB) in response to recommendations made in a September, 1995 report. The report intended to assess how the Equal Employment Opportunity complaint process and mediation program work at the agency. The report noted that a framework for the thorough and fair administrative processing of discrimination complaints existed at GAO. It also concluded that continued improvement would lead to an increase in the credibility of the process. To that end, PAB made 12 specific recommendations designed to improve the agency's internal complaint system and strengthen the mediation program. GAO found that the Deputy Assistant Comptroller General for Human Resources was taking immediate steps to implement eight of the Board's recommendations. He also announced that they would take the remaining four recommendations "under advisement." Since the issuance of the report, the GAO Order that governs the processing of discrimination complaints has been revised to address, in part, PAB recommendations.