GAO noted that: (1) many private companies and federal agencies have used ADR to avoid more formal dispute resolution processes; (2) one reason for the use of ADR was that traditional dispute resolution processes have been costly, both in time and money, and became especially so as the number of discrimination complaints rose sharply in the early 1990s; (3) through a broad examination of ADR use

GAO noted that: (1) FSA's Civil Rights and Small Business Development Staff oversees the agency's efforts to achieve fair treatment for minority farmers; (2) in fiscal years 1995 and 1996, the Staff closed 28 complaints of discrimination against farmers on the basis of race or national origin and found discriminatory practices in 2 of the 28 cases; (3) the Staff also conducted 13 management revie

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the status of African-American employees at the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Baltimore, Maryland, area operations. GAO noted that: (1) in September 1994, African-Americans constituted nearly 44 percent of the workforce in the Baltimore SSA operations, which was about 0.8 percent lower than in September 1989; (2) African-Am

GAO found that: (1) 32 percent of NIH employees surveyed reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment in the past year, but 96 percent of these employees opted not to file an equal employment opportunity (EEO) complaint or take other personnel action; (2) NIH employees filed 32 informal and 20 formal sexual harassment complaints between October 1990 and May 1994, however no determinations

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on end of fiscal year (FY) staffing at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), focusing on the: (1) occupations that have the highest number of vacant positions; and (2) number of vacant positions in law enforcement and social services. GAO noted that BIA: (1) had about 14,600 employees on board at the end of FY 1993 and 13,700 at the end

GAO found that: (1) between 1984 and 1992, the relative number of women and minorities increased in each agency, but certain equal employment opportunity (EEO) groups were underrepresented overall, particularly in key and higher grade positions when compared to the CLF; (2) underrepresentation in key jobs was more pronounced for white and minority women than for minority men; (3) the underreprese

GAO found that between 1982 and 1992: (1) the percentage of female criminal investigators increased at all four agencies; (2) the percentage of African-American investigators increased at all the agencies except USPS, the agency with the highest percentage in 1982; (3) the percentage of other minority investigators increased at all agencies except DEA, the agency with the highest percentage of Hi

GAO found that: (1) from fiscal year (FY) 1984 through FY 1993, the overall representation of minorities and women in the NIH white-collar workforce remained stable at about 74 percent; (2) the representation of Caucasian women and men and African-American men decreased between FY 1984 and FY 1993, while the representation of all other EEO groups increased; (3) the number of women in key NIH jobs